Matters of the Heart
by taters4u
Summary: With Robotnik nowhere to be found, it seems like Tails and his friends have finally found themselves with a short respite. However, their youngest member finds himself in much dire straits as he fights a foe even more formidable than any evil mastermind, his own body.
1. Chapter 1

And here goes my 4th attempt at writing. I said at the end of the last one that this would be based on what health issues I've had and would be my way of sharing what I've gone through. I'm truly grateful to be alive after all I've went through and am always willing to share that part of my life. Now, I'm once again using Sonic characters as they are the ones I am most comfortable with and while I was 20 when all this started, I will keep all characters their current ages. I would also like to say all medical related bits are as accurate as I can remember and I cannot stress that enough. Again, this is not a 'please feel sad for me' or an attempt to make light of the following situation, I just want to share. Thank you and I hope you get some enjoyment out of it.

Chapter 1

"Coming." Tails said as he set the spanner on the workbench. His newest security device was coming along nicely. A portable shield system that could be used in battle to deflect bullet and laser fire. In theory it had a ton of promise but in reality, it only projected a small area that could only accommodate an animal no bigger than a dog. 'Why does the power output not want to go any higher. Maybe it's the energy cells or the refractory lenses for the force field.' he thought as he pulled off his gloves, tossing them on the bench. 'I don't know.'

"Tails?! You coming or what?" Sonic demanded from the top of the stairs.

"Coming. Just give me a sec." he replied as he pulled off his goggles and set them down. Flicking off the lights, the emergency lighting illuminated his lab in an eerie glow as he ascended the stairs.

"You still haven't finished that yet?" Sonic asked as he stepped aside to let the fox pass.

"I don't know what's wrong with it." Tails said as they walked down the hall and into the living room. "I mean, I've calibrated and calibrated it until I thought the dials were going to fall off. It's just not giving enough power. It'll deflect incoming fire but it's just too small an area."

"Well a little sparring should clear your mind." Sonic said.

"Do we have to? Robotnik hasn't been seen in... forever. I know we have to keep our reflexes sharp but we did it last week. Still sore from that." the fox said, rubbing his shoulder.

"Don't worry. I'll take it easy. This'll just be ground exercises." Sonic said. While Sonic made that excuse for Tails' sake, in truth the fox was beginning to come into his own. When they actually had a match, Tails could keep up with Sonic as long as the hedgehog kept his speed down to a realistic setting. The fox had come a long way in the few years he'd found him. Sonic had only been 14 when he found the 5 year old wandering the wilderness crying out for his parents whom unknown to him had become victims of Robotnik. When he came upon him, Tails had been hiding in an old tree stump from what he called 'the bad man'.

At that moment, Sonic took him home as at the time, the war was in full swing and any authorities had their hands full with a demented madman scouring the planet and turning it's inhabitants into machines. It was the hedgehog's plan to keep him until a suitable home could be found but in a short time, he grew fond of Tails who referred to him as 'big brother'. That was 7 years ago and they were now 21 and 12 respectively.

"Good." Tails said as they walked out in the backyard. A large mat had been set up in the middle of the yard and various pieces of workout equipment dotted the yard. "I'm still not as strong as you."

"Don't put yourself down like that, you know better. You're stronger than you think." Sonic reprimanded him.

"Sorry." Tails said as he took his position on the opposite side of the mat.

"Besides, do you know any other 12 year old that can run almost 45 mph, fly and build their own airplane?"

"No." Tails grinned as his ego swelled slightly.

"There you go." Sonic said with a wave of the arm. "Now, lets try takedowns. I'm going to rush you and I want you to watch where I'm going to attack. That's going to be your attack point. Use my weight and speed to try to throw me down." Sonic said. Tails nodded and stood in a ready position. Sonic bent at the knees just slightly and lowered his head. "Ready?" he said and Tails nodded.

For several seconds Sonic stood motionless then suddenly at a normal pace, he rushed forward. The fox's eyes locked on his target, scanning for the hedgehog's attack. As Sonic got close, he raised his left arm and went as if he had a knife. Tails readied himself, watching his hand as he waited for the opportunity to grab it. But at the last second, Sonic changed up his tactic and lowered his head. The fox wasn't able to keep up with the sudden change in tactic and Sonic charged him, grabbing him around the midsection with his right arm and taking care not to come into full contact, took him down with a tackle, trying to absorb as much of the blow as he could.

"Ngh!" Tails grunted as he fell backward, Sonic falling to his right. "What the hell was that?"

"I told you, you have to look for anything. If that were real you'd probably be dead now." Sonic told him as he stood up and helped his brother up.

"That wasn't part of the deal. It was supposed to be ground exercises." Tails protested.

"And it was." Sonic said. "We both went to the ground."

"You know what I mean." he grumbled, dusting himself off.

"Ok. Let's try some ground work. I'll let you go first."

"No." Tails said. "I want to try some thing else." Tails said. Sonic could see the gears of payback turning.

"What'd you have in mind?"

"Standing drills." Tails said. In their regimen, 'standing drills' were code for take downs such as throws or hand to hand combat. Though in the hand to hand they used padded gloves but let it fly full force.

"You s-" Sonic began but stopped himself when he saw the fox pulling on his gloves. Sonic sighed and went to put his own on. 'He's not gonna be happy until he gets in a good one. No sense in trying to stop him.'

"Now you better not go easy on me. I'm not going to go easy on you." Tails said as he took his spot on the mat and began to devise a plan. Sonic could see the fire in his eyes and while Tails preferred to fight using his brain, he insisted that the fox know some type of close quarters combat in case he were ever in a situation that called for it.

"I won't." Sonic replied and they walked to the middle of the ring. "We'll go on you-" but Sonic couldn't get the words out quick enough as Tails rushed him, going for one of the hedgehog's legs. "Jeez!" Sonic blurted out as he moved to the side, the fox barely getting a hand around it. "You want a wrestling match?" Sonic said out loud as Tails turned back to him.

"Can't you see that's what I'm doing?" he asked as he rushed Sonic again. Tails was incredibly fast, much faster than usual; probably running full adrenaline Sonic thought. The fox was about 6 feet away and charged Sonic again, however, the hedgehog saw it coming. Ducking quickly, Sonic dropped low as Tails came close to him and the fox tried to stop, but Sonic caught him in a fireman's carry, lifting him up on his shoulders.

"Let me go!" Tails demanded, wriggling around. It was at this point that Sonic realized that Tails had lied about the soreness he had. It was all a ploy to get Sonic's guard down and try to best him but Sonic was too quick.

"Not until you calm down." Sonic said, but the fox wasn't listening. He was sure he could beat his brother but Sonic was still too quick for him. Tails kept wriggling, trying to break free.

"I'll put you down when you stop." Sonic said. Tails struggled for a few seconds more, then stopped, laughing slightly. "I thought it would work this time." he said.

"Like the last two times?" Sonic asked.

"Can you blame me?" Tails asked.

Sonic shook his head. "You gonna play nice?" "Mm-hmm." Tails mumbled and the hedgehog went to let him down but when he did, Tails started to slip and not expecting the sudden shift in weight, Tails let out a sudden "Ngh!" as he fell outside of the mat and right on the hard ground, landing on his left side. His hip slammed first, followed by his body; fortunately his head didn't slam as he barely managed to keep it from doing so.

"Tails!" Sonic exclaimed as he immediately went to the ground. The fox moaned, rolling around and letting out sporadic grunts. "Nnngh! Mmmmmmm!" he groaned, clutching both his hip and side.

"Are you fine?!" Sonic demanded.

After a few seconds, Tails managed a short nod and stopped rolling around as the pain began to slowly subside. "Everything... feels like it's been... moved two inches to the left." he said with a smile and small laugh.

"I'm so sorry." Sonic said as he helped Tails to his feet slowly. The fox leaned on him for support as a bit of pain from his hip cried out. "Wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have been stupid enough to try it." he said as they began to head inside; Sonic threw Tails' arm around him and helped him walk toward the house.

"Well in honesty, I didn't see it coming. You've gotten better but you need to plan your movements out a bit more." he said as they stepped inside. They went into the living room and Tails sat down on the couch. Their house was a modest two bedroom, two bath given to Sonic by his parents who, much like Tails had passed when he was young and Sonic took the house when he was around 13. His Uncle Chuck had taken care of him up until that time training him, but Chuck had been captured by Robotnik and made a machine. Sonic tried to get him back but it had been too late. Now with Robotnik gone or at least in hiding, the loss of his Uncle allowed him a place to raise his brother.

"Wasn't Aunt Sally coming over tonight?" Tails asked as he flipped on the TV.

"Yeah. She didn't say what time thought. Only three thirty so there's still time." he said as he walked into the kitchen.

"She's staying the night, isn't she?" he asked.

"Yeah." Sonic said as the fridge shut.

"She making those little ravioli's?" Tails asked. "I don't know what she does but I could eat those every day."

"No, I don't think she had time. I'll be cooking." he replied as the sound of another door shut and something solid hit the counter.

"So chili?"

"Very funny." Sonic said.

Later that night after dinner, they sat in the living room relaxing. Sally had a cup of coffee, Sonic a soda and Tails an ice pack on his hip.

"Seriously, you boys get too rough sometimes." she said, scolding both of them. "You're going to end up killing each other someday."

"It was my fault this time Aunt Sally." Tails said as he removed the ice pack to check the bruising. "I thought I could surprise him again."

"He is getting good though." Sonic said.

"Mmm." Tails moaned as he moved slightly.

"You ok?" Sally asked.

"Yeah, just took a fall today; my own stupid fault. Landed a bit awkward. Do we have any asprin?" Tail asked, his ribs yelling.

"Bathroom." Sonic said. Tails nodded and stood up. "You gonna be ok?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. I'm just gonna head to bed."

"Okay. Goodnight sweetie." Sally said to him.

"Night Aunt Sally." he said, bending down and hugging her.

"You better be careful." Tails said to Sonic with a smile. "I'm going to be looking for revenge tomorrow."

"The way you're limping around, better make it a week." Sonic said.

"Yeah." Tails agreed with him. "Night. Love you both."

"Night." Sonic replied as the fox headed off to bed. In the bathroom, he opened the cabinet, taking the bottle of asprin, but putting it back and opting for the nighttime aspirin instead. He wasn't a fan of putting pills and meds into the body and only used them when he needed them and this was one of those times. It was sore as hell and he knew a bit of help would be needed for him to get any sleep. Opting out of the usual two and taking one, he swallowed it with a bit of water, brushed his teeth and shut off the light. "I'll take a shower tomorrow." he said quietly as he walked out of the bathroom. He passed by the doorway into the living room and saw Sonic holding Sally close, her head on his shoulder and the lights out save for the glow of the TV.

Walking into his room, it was decked out with a plethora of electronics, knick-knacks, small robotics and machinery among other devices he had either completed or kept in his room when it was late at night and he didn't want to head down into his lab to satisfy his urge to tinker and build. Against the wall where the door was was his bed, a small nightstand next to it. A lamp and clock he built himself stood on it. In front of it and just to the right was a large TV on the wall, a gaming system he also built himself using parts from an actual system but using his own hard drive and CPU to crank a bit more out of it. To the left sat a small workbench, various projects in different stages of completion sat. One in particular was a small robot about 5 inches tall posed in a fighting stance. It was a toy he was designing that was going to be a robot you could fight other robots with. But it wasn't a serious project and only one he began to challenge himself.

Going over to the bed, he gingerly sat himself down, removing his shoes and laying down. "Mmm!" he yelled as his ribs yelled again but once settled down and the blanket over him, they quietened down. 'Maybe it won't be so bad after all.' he thought, turned on a bit of music and drifted off to sleep.

"NGH!" Tails yelped as he bolted upright, his heart racing. It felt as if it was about to leap out of his chest as it pounded and pounded, hearing his pulse echoing in his ears. 'This isn't right.' he thought and threw off the blanket and immediately headed for Sonic's room. Making his way down the hall, his heart continued to pound, feeling like someone was slapping his chest from the inside. Making his way to Sonic's door, he knocked.

"Mmm...?" Tails heard Sonic mutter weakly. Tails pounded harder and he heard Sonic grunt then spring to his feet. "What's wrong?" he asked, flinging the door open and saw Tails standing in front of him. The fox was calm but had a puzzled look on his face.

"Something's wrong." Tails said. "My heart is racing- I don't know why. I just woke up like this." he said, leaning against the door.

"Get in here." Sonic said, ushering Tails in his room and sitting down on the bed which woke Sally. "What's wrong?" she asked, bleary eyes.

"Heart won't stop racing." he said to her and grabbed her hand, placing it on his chest. Sally's eyes went wide and she jerked her hand away. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed as she grabbed for her phone. A puzzled look came over the hedgehog's face as he sat down beside his brother, reaching over and feeling for himself. "Oh my..." he said pulling his hand back. "Lay down. Now." Sonic told him and he did. Sonic immediately began getting dressed while Sally called an Ambulance.

"You having any pain?" Sonic asked, his own heart racing.

"No." Tails said calmly shaking his head.

"I need an ambulance." Sally said into the phone, giving them their address. "I don't know. My nephew just came in saying his heart was racing. I can feel it when I put my hand on him." she said. "Are you having any chest pain? Shortness of breath? Dizzy?" she asked Tails.

"No." he said to her as Sonic pulled on his shoes. Oddly enough, Tails wasn't nervous even though his heart felt like it was trying to punch his way out. He felt no pain either as he said but just felt like had ran a marathon with out any of the usual side effects. But the odd thing was, he was more worried about Sonic and Sally than himself. She was almost crying and Sonic had a look on his face he'd never seen before.

"You sure you're fine?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah." he said calmly.

Within 20 minutes, they heard an air horn blowing from outside and lights flashing through the window as the Ambulance pulled up, both human males. The passenger climbed out and headed around to the back to get the gurney while the driver put it in park then climbed out, grabbing a black bag and what looked like a TV monitor. Pulling the gurney out, the driver set the bag on the gurney and they wheeled it inside. "Through the doorway and to the left." she said and they headed back.

"Morning." the driver said to Sonic and Tails "I'm Rick and this is Steve." the driver said as the other one nodded. "What's going on this morning?" he asked.

Tails waved. "About 20 minutes ago, I woke up and my heart was racing. I don't know why, I was just sleeping." he told him as the medic that pulled the gurney out began unpacking the bag. "Are you having any pain, shortness of breath, dizziness?" Rick asked as he sat down next to Tails on the bed; he felt Tails' chest quickly, then pulled his hand away. "Let's get a BP and hook him to the monitor." he said quickly to Steve who nodded, pulling out a string of wires.

"No. Other than this I feel fine." he said. Steve began working with the monitor connected the wires to a port, letting them dangle down as the driver began getting a BP. "And you were just sleeping?" Rick asked as the cuff inflated.

"No." Tails said again. In fifteen seconds, the cuff finished. "132/104." Steve said.

"Let's get him on the gurney and hook him up." Rick told him. Tails went to get up but the driver stopped him. "No, no. Try not to move. We'll get you on there."

"Is he gonna be alright?" Sonic asked as he stepped out of the way.

"I can't say at this point but we're gonna do what we can." Rick told him as they grabbed the sheet he was laying on. "Lift on three. One, two, three." Both medics lifted the 62 lb. fox onto the gurney with ease and once there, they began hooking Tails up to the monitor. "How you feeling, hon?" Sally asked, trying to keep herself from bursting into tears.

"Fine." he said with a smile while Rick and Steve began slapping sticky pads on his chest and arms, these a bit stickier to ensure they would stick to the fur of Mobians. Everyone in the room watched tensely as the monitor started and began picking up his vital signs. Within 10 seconds it did and it was chaos. His heart rate was over 180 bouncing between 170 and 210 quickly and at random. The line that scrolled across the screen wasn't the usual broken line, but erratic; alarms went off almost immediately and Rick silenced them. "V-Tach. Let's get him out there now." Rick said and they began strapping Tails down so he wouldn't move.

"Wha- what's that mean?" Sally asked.

"His heart is beating out of control. He's ok at the moment but we need to get him to the hospital now." Steve said as they began wheeling him. "You ok champ?" Steve asked Tails.

"Yeah." he replied.

"Let's get him to Station Square General." Rick said and Steve nodded.

"Don't worry buddy, we'll be right behind you." Sonic said as they headed outside.

"I'm so glad I slept in my clothes." she said as she grabbed her purse and trying to keep her composure while Sonic grabbed his wallet. "I've got the keys." he said as she rounded the corner.

"Let's go." she said. Standing outside, Sonic locked the door behind them and watched as the began loading Tails into the back of the Ambulance. He saw them and waved as best he could with his arm under the belt and both Sonic and Sally waived until they had him inside and the gurney locked down. While Steve climbed in the back with him, Rick took the front and started the Ambulance. "What's your name?" Steve asked.

"Tails." he said.

"Cool name. How old are you?" he asked. "12." Tails said, sighing a little inside. He hated being talked to as if he were still 6. "Well, I'm Steve. If you start feeling any pain or shortness of breath you let me know."

"I will." Tails told him. He glanced over at the monitor as it displayed his vitals, which showed his heart racing at over 160 and still bouncing around. The Ambulance roared to life and it lunged into gear as they pulled away and Steve could be heard talking into the radio and the siren blaring.

Steve started to get another blood pressure and pressed a button on the monitor. Tails hadn't noticed until now, but on the sides were two paddles, both had handles and a large red button on both; he didn't know much about that stuff but he knew enough that's what they used in case someone was dying and he prayed that it wouldn't come to that.

As the cuff inflated, Steve stood up, opening a small door on a row of shelves built into the cab. "I'm going to try to get an IV started in case we have to give you fluids." he said, grabbing a package and tossing it on the gurney between Tails' knees along with a clear bag of fluid. Shutting the door, he sat down and pulled on a pair of gloves then opened the package. Inside was a needle connected to a long tube which he connected the tubing to. Grabbing Tails' arm, Steve tied a rubber band around his upper arm and began tapping his forearm for a vein. Tails continued to watch the monitor, which was now up to 228 the went down to 196. "There we go." Steve said as he found one and grabbed an alcohol swab, ripping it open and swabbing Tails arm. Taking the needle off the cap, he readied it.

"On three. One, two, three." Steve pierced the fox's skin and Tails yelped as it did. "Fu-u-u-u-uck!" he cried out. The Ambulance bounced around and for a moment, he saw the flash of headlights not too far behind them.

"Sorry." Steve said as he moved the needle around, trying to find a vein. "Shit." he muttered and pulled it out, deploying the protective cap and tossing it away. "Sorry Tails." he said, going back to the shelf and grabbing a couple more just in case.

"Mmmm..." he moaned as the burning in his arm from the needle began to calm down. "Can't it wait until we get there?" he pleaded.

"I know it hurts, bud. But we need to get an IV started." Steve said as he opened a new one. He tapped around to find another vein and after a few seconds of tapping, he found one and swabbed the area with alcohol. "Just make it quick." Tails said.

"I'll try." Steve said as counted to three again and plunged the needle in Tails arm. The fox yelled out in pain, a bit moreso this time. "Dammit. C'mon!" Steve muttered as he tried to find a vein but had no luck. Tails had to bite his lip to keep from screaming and when it got too much, Steve in a show of mercy pulled it out. The Ambulance bounced again and made a long right turn as Steve grabbed yet another needle. Again and again, Steve tried to get a line in, trying both arms, different gagues of needles, tying the band a bit tighter but he couldn't get one. Finally after 10 attempts he stopped as Tails was crying openly.

"Rick, call the hospital and tell them I couldn't establish a line."

"Got it." Rick replied and grabbed the radio.

Taking a box of tissues, he handed them to Tails and he dried his eyes. It wasn't like him to be afraid of needles and in fact he wasn't. But being in the state he was in and the fact it had been repeated over and over again, he broke down. "Sorry." he said, looking around for a place to throw the tissue.

"Just throw it on the floor." Steve said and Tails did.

"I'm sorry but like I said, we have to try."

"No, I understand. It's just that hurt a lot." he said laughing.

In less than 15 minutes they arrived at the hospital and Steve and Rick began taking Tails out the back. "Doing ok?" Rick asked.

"Yup." he replied as they pulled him out. The air was cold compared to the warmth on the Ambulance and moving quickly they wheeled him inside. When they hit the doors, a nurse met them. "Whadda got?" he asked.

"12 year old male, in sustained V-Tach; unable to get a line in the field." Steve said as they wheeled Tails down a hallway and into a room. Suddenly the room began filling with nurses as they frantically moved about.

"Chest pain, shortness of breath?" one of them asked.

"No. Last BP was 132/104." Steve said.

One of the nurses unhooked him from the medics monitor and up to their own. It came to life and showed his heart rate was at 170 and still bouncing around; another nurse had a small plastic bag. "What's your name?" he asked Tails, which the fox answered.

"Alright Tails, my name is David and we're going to work on getting you all fixed up here. He come with any other clothing?" he asked Steve.

"No. Aside from that, that's it." he said. David tossed the bag on a counter and another nurse, a female cat Mobian began tossing large plastic pads, white on one side and black on the other. "You guys can go." David said to the medics who walked out to leave them to their jobs. Tails tried to take in the flurry of activity. There were four nurses and what he assumed was a doctor working around him; they were a mix of humans and Mobians, the Mobians both feline. The one he assumed was a doctor walked over to him.

"Hi Tails, I'm Dr. Aho. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I was sleeping and I woke up and my heart was going nuts."

"That's it?"

"That's it." Tails repeated.

"Ok. Let's get a line into him; what's his BP?"

One of the other nurses pressed a button. "Getting it now." she said as Dr. Aho turned back to Tails. "Alright Tails, we're going to get an IV in you and give you something to knock you out, then we're gonna have to shock your heart to get it to calm down."

"Ok." Tails said calmly. He really had no other response as it was one of the few his brain could say while he was dealing with the goings on. They sat him up and began slapping the pads on his back, then laid him down and put them on the front. "Those are gonna hurt when they come off." he joked.

"Alright hon." one of the feline nurses said as she grabbed his arm. "I'm gonna try to get the IV in."

"Do you have to?" he asked, the painful sticks still fresh in his mind.

"Don't worry." she reassured him. "We're not in the back of a box going 70; we do this all the time." she said as she wiped his arm down with alcohol. "Ready?" she asked as he nodded quickly, gritting his teeth and tensing his entire body as he awaited the stick. But it never came and in a second he heard her say a gentle "All done."

He looked at his hand and there indeed was an IV sticking in it, a piece of tubing with running out of it and two ports, one at the end of the tubing and one in the middle sticking out of it, resembling a slightly misshapen 'y'.

"Start 20 of anesthetic and run a course of fluids." Dr. Aho said and the nurses went to work. Tails out of curiosity glanced at the monitor and it showed a rate of 199 which dropped to 186. While he was fortunate to not have any pain, the constant tapping in his chest was getting annoying but he was glad that it wouldn't be for much longer. "Alright Tails, you should start feeling sleepy in a minute." Dr. Aho said. "Still no pain."

"No." Tails said. "That thumping is annoying though."

"Don't worry. Hopefully we'll get it calmed down in a minute."

As Dr. Aho talked, Tails could feel the anesthetic taking effect. He suddenly felt very sleepy and relaxed which thanks to his slender frame, allowed the medication to work quickly. As he began to drift off, he saw the rigging that anchored the overhead light begin to move around, like when you watched something moving in one direction then looked away and you could still see residual movement. That was the last thing he saw before he knocked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Hey." Sally said slowly as Tails began to open and blink his eyes. He tried to respond but only managed a weak "Hmm...". As he regained his bearings, he felt exhausted and his chest was sore but the thumping he had felt what seemed to only be a few minutes ago was gone. As his vision returned, he saw he was lying in a hospital bed in what seemed like some kind of holding area.

"What happened?" he said in a voice barely above a whisper, the monitor above and behind him beeping steadily showing his pulse staying in the 90's.

"I'm not sure. They ran a few tests then said the doctor would come in to talk to me but they told me you're doing alright now." she said. Her voice was shaking and she tried to hide her feelings but it was quite noticeable.

"My chest feels like it's been burned from the inside." he said, grimacing a little as he raised the head of the bed.

"They said that would only be temporary. They had to shock you to get your heart back to normal." Sally said as she brushed a few stray hairs off his face. Tails noticed that the look on her face still had a good amount of worry, but had eased since the last time he'd seen her.

"Where's Sonic?" Tails asked wearly; he could feel his strength returning but it was slow.

"He wanted to but they only allow one person at a time in here. I almost had to restrain him to keep him out." Sally rummaged through her purse for a tissue. "You don't know how worried I was."

"I know you were." Tails said. "I've never seen you like that before. I don't even think Robotnik ever had that kind of effect on you."

"Hello?" A voice said from behind the curtain that kept prying eyes out.

"Yes?" Sally said as the curtain parted.

A man, obviously a doctor walked through them wearing the traditional white coat and carrying a file in his hand. "Hi. My name is Dr. John, head of the cardiology department."

"Hi." Tails and Sally said at the same time.

"How're you feeling?" he asked Tails.

The fox let out a sigh. "Little tired, chest feels like it's been burned."

"But otherwise fine?" he asked and Tails nodded. "I was looking at your chart and it said you've never had any problems before tonight, right? No chest pain, feeling like your heart is racing?" Tails shook his head he hadn't. "We'll you had what we call ventricular tachycardia or an arrhythmia. Think of it like this." he said, making a fist. "In order to beat, your brain sends tiny electrical signals to it that tell it when to beat and what rhythm to keep. And," he bent his thumb into his forefinger so the knuckle was showing. "those signals first go to the top and into what's called the AV node; kind of like a lightning rod. But with an arrhythmia, your node could have a short in it which could've been the cause."

"So is he going to die?" Sally asked as Tails nodded in agreement. He was curious about that outcome but he couldn't bring himself to ask.

"No." Dr. John said; Sally let out a loud and shaky sigh of relief. "If that is the cause, what we could do is implant a device called an AICD in the chest. What it is, is a pacemaker and defibrillator and what we do," he said going up to the side of his bed and reaching his hand over the railing. "we make an incision here." he said, making a swiping motion on the left side of Tails' chest. "Then we run two wires through a couple of veins and secure them to the heart; one on the node and one against the ventricle at the bottom of the heart. After that, it's just a matter of connecting it to the device and sewing the incision. I brought this so you could see what it would be."

He opened the file and took out a piece of paper and handed it to Sally which was a picture of the device that resembled an egg in shape. The device itself was silver and at the top was a small section of clear plastic that had the wires running out of it. It wasn't very big either and it looked as it would fit in the palm of her hand. Sally handed it to Tails and the fox took it, giving it a look over. But, he simply handed it back to her and said nothing.

"I'd like to do it in a couple of days." Dr. John said.

"Do I have to stay in here?" Tails asked. "I feel fine."

"I think it would be best." Dr. John told him. "You may feel fine now, but I don't think it would be wise to be at home. It'd be best if you stayed here so we can keep an eye on you and act quickly if you go into another arrhythmia."

"I think it'd be best." Sally told him.

Tails looked at both of them and while he thought he was fine, decided to let them do what they thought was best. "Alright." he said.

"Ok." Dr. John said. "I'll go ahead and start the admission process, get you in a room and we'll go from here tomorrow. OK?"

"Ok." Sally replied while Tails nodded and Dr. John walked away and when he was gone, she turned to Tails. "I'm gonna go get Sonic. I'll be right back." she said.

"Can you walk?" one of the nurses asked Tails as they stopped in front of his room to which he nodded. Swinging his legs over the side, he stood up though slightly shaky having been in the bed for a few hours and not moving. One of the nurses helped him in and over to the bed and Tails sat down or rather plopped down. The room itself wasn't anything special. The normal array of medical devices sat on the wall behind him, like the little lights used to look in the ears and throat as well as a monitor for vitals. Off to the right side was a nightstand. The left side of the room had a small closet and a recliner; on the wall in front was a TV, an older models and a door that led into a private bathroom.

They handed Tails one of those gowns with the split in the back which they asked him to change into. "Do I have to take off _everything_?" he asked emphasizing 'everything' with a whisper. They said he had to and he went into the bathroom to change. When he came out, he had it pulled around him but not tied as it was almost impossible to secure them himself. He could feel his tails swishing and air hitting him on the butt and he blushed as he looked at a nurse and asked if she could tighten it. She nodded and went over to him and stood behind him and tied it up; he blushed as she did due to him being exposed and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt it tighten around him.

He thanked monitor nurse and she walked out as the other two nurses stepped in to do their job. The one on the computer was a middle aged male human and the other was a female Mobian bird type, much older than the human and when Tails sat down on the bed, she began asking him questions while the male nurse typed in his answers. It first started out with general questions, name, age, birthday and whatnot and moved to more intimate questions like if he did drugs, drank, had other medical conditions etc. etc. It seemed to drag on but they were finished in just over ten minutes and when they did, they snapped a strip of white plastic around his wrist, just above the IV. "Your family here hon?" the female nurse asked while her co-worker had already left.

"Yeah." he replied.

"I'll go let them know you're in here." she said and left.

Tails grabbed the remote for the TV and turned it on. 'Wonder how long I'm gonna be in here.' he thought, flipping through channels. 'Don't even need to be in here; not even anything wrong with me. But if it'll show them I'm fine, might as well go along with it.' Being so young, he couldn't accept just how bad his situation was. Thanks to that feeling of being young and invincible and because of that, any thoughts he did have about it were quickly dismissed.

"Tails?" a man asked, this one another human dressed in red scrubs said from the doorway.

"Yeah?" Tails responded as he walked in.

"Hi. My name is David and I'll be your nurse for the night."

"Hi." the fox said to him. He noticed that in one hand was a small gray box about the size of a brick in his hand along with a small length of wire as well as a piece of plastic that had six white pads stuck to it; the other was a clear plastic bag that had a square of light blue cloth. "Debra told me you asked for a pair of pants and you're in luck. We found some." he said, laying the package on the bed.

"Oh thank you." Tails said with a smile. Opening the package, he took them out and unfolded them. They were of the same material the gowns were and were somewhat thin but it didn't matter. As long as they covered him that was all that mattered. "I thought we couldn't wear pants." he said while David set the brick and the pads on the bed.

"Not your regular pants you can't. These you can since on this floor, some patients have to have a heart cath done. Depending on their condition." David grabbed the bundle of wire and plugged them into the top of the brick. "What that is, we run a wire through your groin and up to your heart, and doing that we can see things from the inside we couldn't see from the outside."

"Oh, okay. Um, you wouldn't have a pair of scissors on you, would you?" he asked.

"I think so. Why?" David asked and Tails pointed to his tails. "Need to make a hole." David reached into the pocket on his shirt and took out a tiny pair which he used to make a hole. Tails pulled them on immediately and smiled now that he was covered better.

"Alright, I need to put these on you so can you lift up your gown and laid down?" he asked. "Um, aren't they gonna hurt when they come off?" he asked wearily.

"No. These have a special glue that makes them sticky enough to hold on to hair but not so much that they hold on when we pull them off. See?" David pulled the ones he had on in the ER off. They came off with ease, almost as if they were coated in oil then David began pressing the new ones on him.

"Really...?" Tails asked. "Never heard of a glue doing that." He tried to figure out how a glue could be so sticky yet release as if it had been coated with oil. 'Maybe it has a chemical that reacts with the hair's natural oil...' As David finished and Tails pulled his gown down, the same nurse that had asked him all those questions earlier popped back in. "I let your family know you were in a room and where you were but we couldn't let them back here since it's already after hours. But they said they'd be back first thing in the morning."

"Okay." Tails replied and she popped back out as quickly as she popped in. David meanwhile took the brick and through a slit in the front of the gown that fed into a pocket, he set the brick inside. "What's that?" Tails asked.

"You know how you were hooked up to that monitor in the ER?"

"Yeah." Tails said. "That beeping... I don't see how anyone can take that beeping."

"Well this is the same thing, but it's sends that stuff to a monitor at the nurses station where we have someone watching it constantly. This way you don't have to be hooked up to a machine and you can move around." David reached into the nightstand beside the bed and pulled out a small remote and connected it into the wall behind Tails and pressed a button. After a few seconds, there was a beep. "Nurses station, can I help you?" a woman's voice asked.

"Testing the call button." David said.

"Got it." the woman said and the speaker spat out a second of quiet static then he handed it to Tails. "Just press that button if you need us." he said and laid it next to the fox. "You need anything right now?" he asked Tails.

"No, I'm fine."

"Alright." David nodded. "If you do just call us." he said and left.

"Good morning." Dr. John said as he walked into Tails' room. Both Sonic and Sally were already there.

"Morning." They all said to him.

"So." Dr. John said to Tails. "How are you feeling this morning?"  
"Alright. I am pretty hungry. Am I going to get something to eat?"

"Unfortunately no." Dr. John said as he opened the folder he was carrying. "Since you don't have any history of cardiac issues, I've scheduled you to have a heart cath this morning around 11. This way, we can take a look at your heart from the inside and see why you might've had that arrhythmia."

"What's that?" Sonic asked.

Dr. John walked over to the side of Tails bed. "What we do is, after a general anesthetic, we make a small incision in the groin and run a wire up through the leg and to the heart. This way, we can check the AV node to see if it's damaged and give the heart a better look."

"And that'll fix it, won't it?" Sally asked hoping the answer would be a surrounding yes.

"It depends. When the brain sends a signal to the heart to tell it to beat, it travels from the brain to the AV node and down the heart which makes it contract. In this case, there may be a short in the node or the pathways that the signals travel may be damaged which could've caused that arrhythmia. If that's the case, we make a slight burn along those areas and reroute the signals so they pass by smoothly."

Sally let out a sigh and swallowed the lump in her throat. "W-what do you mean damaged?"

"With arrhythmia's, the heart can sometimes develop very slight tears along the muscle, which while it sounds bad, they actually don't do any damage to the heart themselves; it's more akin to what you'd see in concrete. There's a few cracks but they're tiny. They only cause the signals to get distorted but don't actually cause any damage to the heart muscle itself. Don't worry." Dr. John said. "I know it sounds scary but it's a very safe procedure and we'll take good care of him."

Sally nodded but what he said did little to curb her worry. Hearing him say that Tails heart had 'damage' to it and they were going to burn it frightened her much worse than anything could. But she simply nodded and kept those worries inside so Tails wouldn't have that on his mind as well. She thought it odd that he hadn't shown any concern toward his situation at all and had mentioned it to Sonic, but he suggested that the fox might be putting on a brave face as she did. While she had her doubts, she decided not to push Tails to talk about it unless he wanted to since forcing the issue would only make things worse.

"But right now before we go any further, I've ordered a couple x-rays and blood work done which they should be in at any time. Do you have any questions?"

"Is it going to hurt?" Tails asked.

"The actual procedure won't but when we make the incision in the groin, you may feel a pinch but that's about it." Dr. John said.

"How long will it take?" Sally asked.

"The procedure itself shouldn't take more than twenty minutes. But that's not counting prepping and recovery. Do you have any other questions?"

"When can I eat?" Tails asked.

Dr. John laughed. "We'll get you something after you're done. Do you have any other questions?" he asked both Sonic and Sally and they both shook their heads no. "Ok. If you do don't hesitate to ask." he said and left.

As soon as he did, Sally stood up. "You ok Sal?" Sonic asked, beginning to stand up on his own.

She nodded. "I'm fine. Just need to go to the bathroom." she said.

"Why not use the one in here?" he asked pointing over to it.

"That's for the patients. Besides, I need to stretch my legs for a few minutes." she said when in fact it was a half truth. She did have to go but she also needed to get out of the room for a few minutes before she broke down.

"Okay." Sonic said. "If you don't come back in twenty I'll send a party after you." She laughed but only nodded as she left, leaving the two brothers alone.

Sonic looked around the room. "I hope she'll be alright."

"She will." Tails said.

Sonic scooted closer to Tails. "Are you sure you're ok? It's ok to be scared."

Tails laughed. "I'm fine. Really. I just don't want to be in here. I mean, I've got that force field I have to finish; I was so close to figuring it out before... this." The fox waved a hand around the room and shook his head.

"I know but it's best if you stay in here and make sure you're ok. I know Sal doesn't want anything to happen to you; I don't either."

Tails nodded then laughed. "Maybe they won't find anything." he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if that was from the force field I was working on; probably just too high a power output or something."

"Maybe." Sonic said. Hearing him talk like nothing serious had happened got him to realize what Sally had been talking about. He was completely ignoring what had happened to him and Sonic knew right away that this wasn't Tails. The hedgehog wasn't a psychiatrist, but like he told Sally, it was best to let him come to terms with what had happened at his own pace and be there when he needed support. "So what do you have to do to get it working?" Sonic asked.

"It's just a matter of getting the frequency and power output right. I've already tested it to see if the field works and it does, it's just a matter of getting it large enough to cover one of us _without_ burning out the power supply. If you go to high with it to cover a larger area, it gets overheated and shuts down. I don't know, maybe a couple days in here would give my brain a rest."

"Knowing you it'll only take a day." Sonic said.

"We'll be right here when you get back, bud." Sonic said as they followed the two nurses that were wheeling Tails, bed and all down the hall for his surgery. "I know." he said. "Kind of looking forward to the nap." When they reached the double doors that led into the surgical ward, Sally had them stop just before they went in. She bent down and gave him a kiss. "We love you." she said, her voice shaking slightly. Being off the wireless monitor, they had him hooked up to a portable one like the one used in the ambulance.

"I love you too." he said with a smile as they pushed him through the doors, waving just before they shut.

"You gonna be alright?" Sonic asked as she wiped a tear away.

"Yeah." she said with a smile. "Just seeing him with those wires running everywhere, laying in that bed... it's not right."

Going through another set of doors, they stopped in a large room that had several sections along the walls, some having a bed while other didn't and each cordoned off with a curtain. In the middle of the room was a long desk with two nurses working behind it while several doctors and nurses ran about dressing surgical scrubs. They pulled him into one of the empty spots without a bed, the two that pushed him in waved at one of the nurses behind the desk nodded and they left. The fox lay there wondering what would happen next. He'd never had surgery before and although it was a bit intimidating, he was rather exited more than scared.

After a few minutes of waiting, another of the endless stream of nurses that wandered around walked over to his bed carrying a folder, this one a human male. "You must be Miles." he said. He was rather young and Tails figured the guy had to be no older than his early 20's.

"Yup." he replied.

"My name's Jeff and I'm gonna keep an eye on you until there ready to take you back. Do you need anything?" he asked.

"Just need to go." Tails said.

Jeff nodded and lowered the bed's railing and the fox swung his legs over and stood up. Jeff turned off the monitor he had been hooked up to and removed the wires so he could move around. "No need to have that hooked up until they take you back. Right over there." he said, pointing to a door next to the nurses station. The fox went over, did his thing and came out a few minutes later. 'Wish they'd let me wear clothes in here.' he thought, shutting the door. 'They ever try to go to the bathroom in these things?' He laughed inside and walked back to his bed but when he sat down, he noticed there was a small table sitting next to it. A metal tray had been placed on it, along with a small can of shaving cream as well as two razors, one battery powered and one a manual razor. A folded white towel and bottle of iodine lay beside everything as well. 'What the...?' he wondered and sat down. Jeff saw him and walked over to him.

"Oh, you're back." he said. "Can you lay down and lift your gown up for me and take off your pants?" he asked.

"Why?" Tails asked hesitantly.

"For any kind of surgery, we have to prep the area and that means we have to shave the area they're working on." Jeff said.

"Do-do I have to?" Tails asked nervously.

"I know it's not the most pleasant thing but it's something we have to do. Here." Jeff said, handing Tails the towel. "Cover yourself with that and I'll turn around until you're done."

It was an embarrassing situation, but he did as he was told. Taking his pants off and laying them at the foot of the bed, he laid down on the bed, lifting up the gown and laying that to the left so it hung off the side, then took the towel and covered his nakedness. "Ok." he said. Lying on a bed with only a towel to hide his nudity was the most embarrassing thing he'd ever had to do. The closest he'd ever come to this level was when he was 6 and had wet his pants one night.

Jeff turned around and with the quickness of a professional, went to work. "I'll make this as quick as I can." he said. While this was an important part of any surgery, it didn't make things easy, for patient or nurse. While it wasn't as embarrassing if it was an adult in that postion, the fact Tails was only 12 made for a bit more awkwardness. But just as quickly as it began it was over and Jeff pulled Tails' gown down and tossed both razors into the trash. "They should be around to take you back in a few minutes." Jeff said; Tails nodded and he walked away.

To take his mind off what had just transpired, he thought about the force field he'd been working on the other day. 'I wonder if I switch it to some kind of battery/solar powered device? Would have to adjust the batteries but it would still be able to hang on a belt or the wrist. Solar panels could be fit in the casing along the edges with an internal ni-cd rechargeable battery; maybe a cell battery. May have to double or triple up on those though. Rechargeable would be best and it could even have a wall charger it plugs into as a boost or something..."

"Tails?"

The fox snapped out of his trance and when he regained his senses, he saw a doctor and a nurse, both human standing by his bed; one was male while the other was female. "Hi." he said.

"Feeling ok?" the man asked; both were dressed in surgical scrubs.

"Yeah." he said with a laugh. "Just lost in thought."

"Well my name is Dr. Richardson and this is Julianne. I'll be doing the procedure and she'll be keeping an eye on you while we work on you."

"Don't worry." she said with a smile. "We'll take good care of you. Do you have any questions?" she asked him.

"No. Just want to get it over with." he said.

"Alright. Let's get going." she said. Grabbing his bed, they took him back through a pair of double doors and into a mid sized room. In the center of it was a table with a thin mattress on it and on the left side were five monitors hanging from the ceiling; above the bed was a large square device that hung down with the x-ray symbol printed one side. They wheeled him in right up to the table and he climbed over onto it. While he did, Dr. Richardson began tapping away on a keyboard next to the bed while Julianna began rummaging through drawers. When she came back, she had a towel in her hands, laying it across Tails' knee and a pair of gloves she was pulling on.

"Ok hon. I know this ain't easy but can you take your gown off for me?" she asked. Not knowing what to expect after his new haircut, he did and with speed that almost matched Sonic, she laid the towel across his nethers, pulling it away from his leg on the right side and tossing the gown in a bag marked 'Soiled linen.' Once that was over, she hooked him up to a heart monitor and wrapped a bp cuff around his arm and connected a sensor to his finger.

"All done, Frank." she said to Dr. Richardson. He nodded and tapped a few more keys on the keyboard and the other screens came to life. "Get a bp." he said and she pressed a button on the monitor and the cuff began to inflate. Tails noticed that one of the monitors had a white circle in the middle surrounded by black, along with his name and a few minor details. 'Interesting.' he thought.

"118/83." she said and deflated the cuff then rummaged through another drawer. This time though, she came back with a plastic case as well as a few other things and set them on the table, then Dr. Richardson went over to a sink and with a little help from Julianna he was prepped for surgery and took position at Tails' feet while she sat down beside him to watch the monitor.

Dr. Richardson opened the box and took out a scalpel, laying it on a clean white towel, along with squares of gauze, a needle and a glass bottle filled with a clear liquid. Julianna grabbed the x-ray and positioned it squarely over Tails' chest and flipped a switch. The bottom it lit up like a flashlight as a beam of white light shined down on him, the fox squinting as it did. "Mmm." he moaned and turned his head away.

"Okay Tails, ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah." Tails said.

"Okay." Dr. Richardson said. Tails tried to look up and see what he was doing but he couldn't lift his head up to see. If he could, he would've seen Dr. Richardson filling the needle. "Okay, you're gonna feel a small pinch." he said as he grabbed Tails' leg. The fox took a deep breath as he waited for the 'pinch' and his heart rate went up slightly. "Oka- nngh!" The fox jumped as he felt the needle peirce his leg on the inside of his right thigh and a slight burning sensation as Dr. Richardson pressed the plunger down.

"It burns!" he said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry. It's almost done." Dr. Richardson said as he pushed the last of the syringe's contents through then pulled the needle out.

"Ooh, that didn't feel good." Tails said as the burning slowly subsided.

"Sorry." Dr. Richardson said. "We'll get started when the anastetic takes effect."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

'When does that stuff take effect?' Tails wondered while aside from soft music coming from a radio, there was silence. "Should be just about ready." Dr. Richardson said. "Can you feel this?" he asked Tails as he poked at the injection area. "Kind of." he said.

"Let's go with a little more." Dr. Richardson said as he filled another needle and injected Tails' leg. The fox braced for the sting but felt nothing. "So when does this start taking effect?"

"Can you feel that?" the doctor asked. "Nope." Tails replied. "Then we're ready." the doctor replied as he grabbed the scalpel.

"Um... why am I still awake?" the fox asked nervously.

"Oh, for a cath, we don't fully sedate. It's a local anesthetic only." Tails didn't even notice when the incision had been made in his leg. 'Alright. Just stay calm.' he told himself. His heart rate was steadily keeping within the mid 90's but he was feeling a little anxiety. He had always assumed every surgery had people fully anesthetized but he wasn't so lucky. Tails tried to lift his head to see what was going on but he still couldn't see anything. If he could, he'd have seen Dr. Richardson grabbing a length of what looked like black tubing and feeding one end into his leg.

"I'm in." he said, focusing on the line in his hands. Tails saw the white circle on the monitor turn gray, outlines of his blood vessels running everywhere. But the most noticeable thing was his heart. He could see it beating in real time, a steady contraction and expansion. 'Amazing.' he thought as he watched the monitor. Then he saw a black line snaking it's way across the screen.

"Alright, let's see what we've got." Dr. Richardson said, slowly feeding the line in. His eyes studied the monitor with laser precision, his hands gently feeding and reeling the line in with miniscule movements as he moved it closer to the top of Tails' heart; then it stopped. "Hmm..." he hummed as his eyes stayed glued to the screen.

"What is it?" Tails asked, unsure of how exactly to take that 'hmm'.

"Oh, it's nothing." he said and fed in a bit more line. Now the fox was getting more concerned. He had been brushed off so casually but that 'hmm' didn't sound casual. "Kind of hard not to."

Then there was another silence for a couple minutes as the doctor played around with the line, feeding it in, eyes focused on the screen. Every once in a while, he'd stop, reach over and fiddle around with something else. "How's it looking?" Tails asked.

"Ok." the doctor replied. 'Well that helps.' Tails thought. 'Wish he'd tell me what's going on; if he sees anything.' Julianna pressed a button on the monitor at her end and the cuff around his arm inflated. "You doing ok?" she asked.

"Yeah." he replied. "Back's getting a little sore- mmm..." he moaned lightly. His heart suddenly began pounding, although it was very light, almost like someone tapping him on the arm and lasted for just a couple seconds.

"You ok?" she asked and he nodded. "Mm-hmm." he nodded. "Just had this tapping in my chest." he said. "Any pain?" she asked and he nodded no. Julianna pressed a button on the cardiac monitor and it whirred, spitting out a strip of paper which she tore off after a few seconds and looked it over. "Don't see anything odd... you have any pain and I mean _any,_ let me know."

"Oh, I will." he said then turned back to the monitor that displayed his heart, but the line began to retract. "Okay, we're all done." Dr. Richardson said as he pulled it completely out and began to close the wound, laying down a few squares of gauze, followed by a sticky plastic film on the fox's leg.

"Don't move that leg for at least an hour so it can close up." he said, pulling his gloves off and tossing them into a trashcan against the wall. Julianna took the BP cuff off his arm as well as unhooking the fox from the monitor. "So that's it?" he asked. The monitor made a steady beep as it lost the signal and Julianna turned it off. "That's it." Dr. Richardson said, standing up.

"You're family should be in here in a few minutes." a nurse said to Tails as she finished hooking him back up to the nurse's station's wireless cardiac monitor. "When can I eat? I'm pretty hungry." Tails said. The last meal he'd eaten was around 6 the night before and hunger was setting in. He hadn't went this long without food and he was starting to shake a bit. "We can bring you something in about an hour when you can move your leg and sit up." she said, hooking the TV remote into it's slot into the wall.

"Ok." he said. "It's just I'm starting to feel a little sick."

The nurse looked down at him with a smile on her face. "Tell you what." she said, pulling the sheet over his legs. "I'll see if I can find something for you to snack on until they can get you a tray. How's that sound?" she asked with a smile. "That'd be cool." he said, a smile on his face as well. He honestly didn't care what it was really as long as it was something. "Thank you." he said to her to which she nodded and walked out. Alone for the moment and having nowhere to go or nothing to do, he flipped the TV on. 'I wish I could get up and walk around.' he thought. His right leg was beginning to hurt from being held still for so long and when the pain got too much, he moved it to the right ever so slightly a fraction of an inch. "Oh thank God." he said as the pain disappeared.

"Hey." Sally said as she suddenly popped her head in the room and walked in, Sonic following close behind her. "How you feeling?" she asked sitting down on the side of his bed; Sonic taking the recliner this time. "Ok." he said. "They told me not to move my leg for an hour but other than that, I'm fine."

"Why'd they say that?" Sonic asked. "It's to keep the wound from opening back up." Tails replied. "All this just so they could shove a wire in there."

"You didn't feel it moving around inside did you?" Sally said. Tails laughed. "I felt this real light tapping around here." he said pointing to the right center side of his chest. "Thought maybe it was bumping into a bone or something; I don't know. But other than the needle they used to numb me with, didn't feel a thing."

*knock knock* "Hey. Managed to find you something." It was the nurse from before, this time holding a package of animal crackers and a small soda with a straw. "Sorry it's not very much. We're restocking our break room right now and this was all we had." She laid them on the table next to his bed and his eyes locked on the crackers. "Thank you." he said, grabbing them and opening the package.

"Enjoy." she said and walked out, but Tails didn't hear her. He was busy with the crackers and threw one in his mouth. His cheeks tingled as it hit his tongue. Going without food that long his tongue was more susceptible to taste and that cracker was like eating gold. "Oh, that's so good." he moaned, putting a couple more in.

Nurses came in and out to make checks on the incision site; a little embarrassing considering he was only wearing the gown and nothing else but and after an hour, they were good on their word and let Tails sit up and brought him a lunch tray. Removing the lid, it was a spaghetti lunch, topped with two small meatballs and sauce, baked zucchini and a roll. A salad sat in a separate bowl as well as a bit of fresh melon. He took a bit of the pasta and while it was indeed bland and one single packet of something labeled 'SEASONING BLEND', he didn't care. He was hungry and in a few minutes, he had it put away.

"And I thought I ate fast." Sonic said as Tails put the lid back on and laid back. "That wasn't the best but I don't care." he said with a smile.

"Feel better?" Sally asked. "Mm-hmm." he nodded. "You sure you don't want to go get something to eat?" he asked. "We'll wait for the doctor to come in." she said. "Yeah, don't worry about us." Sonic said.

Later that day

"Afternoon." Dr. John said as he finally made an appearance. "Hi." Sally said as he grabbed a rolling stool from the wall and sat down. 'Took long enough'. Tails thought. "Well, I've looked over your tests and the results of the cath and we did see several two second runs of arrhythmia as well as a couple bouts of atrial fibrillation while the cath was inside and even though they're showing up only briefly, it's only a matter of time before they get worse. But if we act now, we can control them and keep them from going out of control any further." Sally took a deep breath as she prepared to hear the worst; Sonic reached over and put a hand on her for support. "So what happens now?"

"Well, considering the number of them that showed up during the cath, I would suggest we implant the AICD as soon as possible." he said. "And that'll fix it, right?" Sonic asked. Sally tried to speak but she was fighting back tears.

Dr. John let out a sigh. "Unfortunately no. While Dr. Richardson did find several spots that were causing the natural electrical signals to become disrupted, he did attempt to burn them off and repair the damage, but it didn't work. I'm afraid the only option now is to do the implant." The fox's eyes shifted between Dr. John, Sally and Sonic. He could see the look on his face and it was one many patients and families had when they learned what would need to be done. Sally was fighting to keep her composure as well as Sonic and the reality of the situation finally getting through to Tails. Being young, the naivety of youth had fooled himself with that theory of being 'bulletproof'. However, he didn't feel depressed or any feelings of the sort; it was quite the opposite. If anything, he realized he'd managed to survive something very life threatening and a feeling of gratefulness washed over him. Fate or whatever invisible being had allowed him to live.

He looked over at Dr. John. "When do we do it?" Both Sonic and Sally looked at him and they saw a level of calmness on his face. 'He's not even scared.' she thought as she wiped her eyes. The hedgehog felt immense pride in his brother at that moment as the fox faced what would probably be the biggest trial in his life.

"In the next couple of days. In the meantime, I'd like to start you on a beta blocker to reduce the risk on any arrhythmia's until we can actually implant the device. But in the meantime," he stopped to close the folder. "there's a few papers you have to sign and I'll get some material for you to read up on."

"That should do it." the nurse said as she gathered up the papers Tails had signed. Mostly what the procedure was and that he agreed to undergo it but one that unnerved him a bit was the advanced directive in case he couldn't make decisions for himself or if he needed CPR etc. etc. Those choices had been left to Sally or Sonic naturally but it was scary to say the least at some of the things he had to decide on. If his heart stopped, would he want everything done possible to try resuscitation, CPR only or nothing at all. Of course he said do everything without a second thought, but he couldn't figure out why anyone would want nothing done. But everything was signed and dated and it was agreed to happen in two days at 10 am.

While they were signing that, a hospital worker had pushed a large TV on a cart into the room. On the bottom shelf sat a VCR and a tape. It only had one marking on it and it was 'Living with an AICD'. The nurse that brought the paperwork in went over and turned the TV on then put the tape in. "This should only be about 10 minutes and should answer any question's you might have. Course if you have more we'll be happy to answer." she said with a smile, started the tape and left.

"Anyone got popcorn?" Sonic asked and they chuckled as the tape began. It started out with an overview of what his condition was which they already knew about, then moved onto the device itself. It was a small silver object which was in a kind of egg shape; along one side was a raised section of plastic where the wires would be inserted to send out the signals. In all, it was about 5 inches long and a half inch wide. "Doesn't seem as big as I thought it was." Tails said. "I know." Sally said. "The way they were talking about it had me thinking it was the size of a remote control."

"This device," the woman narrating the video said as a picture of it popped up. "is set to monitor arrythmia's from your heart. The pacemaker portion of the device maintains a regular rhythm to keep your heart beating normally. It does this by sending a pulse through your chest that is not painful called a 'burst'. However, if an arrythmia is detected that cannot be calmed down by bursts, the defibrillator will fire until it is under control. Most patients feel no discomfort from their device, however, some do feel a sensation often associated with falling when a burst occurs. It's not uncommon to feel a couple of bursts in a row but if they are frequent, tell your doctor or cardiologist." The video faded to black, then showed an older human female standing at a sink washing dishes. "All patients can generally perform normal activities as their condition allows, however, consult with your doctor to ensure what level of activity is acceptable for your condition."

That allowed Tails to breathe a major sigh of relief. Hearing that he'd have this piece of metal inside of him, he thought that he'd be handicapped to an extent but it was nice to know that there was a good chance that he could still have a somewhat normal life; hearing that took the same amount of worry off both Sally and Sonic's mind. Tails was very active and they couldn't imagine him being forced to limit his activities. "However, there are a few precautions a patient must take with an implated device. With this device, strong magnetic fields can have an adverse effect on the device and possibly shut it off. These include magnets, security wands, CB antennas and theft prevention gates in certain businesses. If encountered, move away from the source as quickly as possible. Alert security personnel that you have an AICD and tell them their wands would disrupt your device. However, microwave ovens are permitted to be used by patients. Modern microwave's have sufficient shielding in place to keep any harmful interference at bay. Most patients worry that air travel is not possible with a device. However, there isn't sufficient magnetic..."

Hearing that he could no longer be around magnetic fields worried him. If that wasn't possible, then a good 50% of his work went out the window. Most of it had a magnetic field output or something similar that could damage the device. While some weren't magnetic fields per se, a few were similar and had the possibility of having the same effect. But, if microwaves were safe, it could be possible to have some form of shielding that would block any harmful effects. As quickly as that worry came it left as he immediately had a project to work on.

(I want to say really quick that this part was in the actual video I watched before I had my first device put in and I had to include it as, while it's funny looking back on it now, it was embarrassing to see with my family watching it along with me.)

As the video continued, it once again faded to black then a title screen faded in to a couple sitting down to a nice dinner. But what followed made things a bit uncomfortable for the three. "Most patients with a device wonder if sexual activity is no longer possible." Tails felt his face flush immediately, while both Sonic and Sally felt a level of uncomfortableness. They had already had the talk with him but it still, this kind of thing was hard to listen to with family.

"Again, in most cases you should discuss with your doctor if sex is possible with your condition. If you are cleared to do so, sexual activity could trigger an arrhythmia and your partner may feel a portion of the electrical shock. If this happens stop, wait for any shocks to stop and consult with your doctor about any further activity."

'Oh God.' Tails thought. If he could, he'd jump into a hole and hide along with Sonic and Sally but thankfully the video quickly went into medications then wrapped up.

Later that day

"We'll be back tomorrow." Sally said as she bent down to give Tails a kiss on the cheek. "Go easy on the nurses bud." Sonic said with a grin.

Tails waived and they walked out. "You think he's ok?" Sally asked as a nurse passed by. "I think so." Sonic said as they rounded a corner. "Just be there for him like we've been doing and take things one step at a time." They came up to a bank of elevators and Sonic pushed the call button.

With them gone and aside from the occasional nurse coming and going, he had his thoughts to keep him company once again and he used the opportunity to try to come up with a way to counteract any harmful interference his new device could encounter and flicked the TV on for background noise. But without any of his equipment it wasn't easy to come up with many ideas as he lacked the means to test and the only theory he could come up with was the possibility of some kind of vest that would have the means to block out anything that could be harmful to him after the surgery. 'Maybe they can bring my laptop up tomorrow.' he thought as he turned his attention to the TV. Nurses came in and out taking vitals and drawing some more blood as well as starting him on a medication to begin controlling his arrhythmia's but other than that, the rest of the day was uneventful and around 9 he fell asleep.

"Sir? I need to take some blood from you." a voice said quietly. The fox opened his eyes and yawned. "Mmm..." he murmured groggily. It was another lab tech, this one a female canine Mobian. "They did already..." he murmured, blinking from the overhead light above the bed shining into his eyes; he saw on the clock that it was barely after 10 pm. "I know they did." she said pulling out vials and a needle. "But they ordered draws every 6 hours."

"Mmm..." he moaned, offering his arm with little resistance. "Wish they would've told- hnk!" he yelped as the needle pierced his skin then subsided as quickly as it came. "Sorry." the woman said as the vial quickly filled with blood. "It's done."

"Thank you." he said as she placed a sticker on the vial and walked out. 'Kind of odd thanking her for sticking a needle in me...' he thought as he drifted off to sleep. But that was again interrupted at 4 that morning for another draw. The following day was pretty much a repeat of the previous. Sonic and Sally came for another visit, this time bringing his laptop at his request and when they left, he started looking for ways to shield the device from potential harm. After just a few minutes, he discovered AICD's had a substantial amount of shielding in place already and the only major worry would be magnets coming in close proximity to him, about 1 to 6 inches depending on the size and strength of a magnet. While the projects he was currently working on along with the force field that was in development _did_ have a similar output, it didn't produce interference in a range that would be harmful. That took a hefty burden off his mind since it meant he wouldn't have to put any of his projects on hold or come up with some kind of outer shielding. However, that didn't mean he couldn't research something just to have as an extra means of precaution.

When they brought his dinner to him, he was in such a good mood that he didn't even care that it was a small piece of fish with lemon wedges, broccoli and plain rice. That meal however, would be his last until after the surgery tomorrow. At midnight, he would be marked 'NPO' which meant no food or water until after his procedure. But it didn't bother him as one, he didn't eat much and two, he had already eaten. Even his 10 pm blood draw went flawlessly. No pain from the needle stick, the blood flowed quickly and the tape even managed to stay stuck to his fur until the bleeding stopped. "You seem happy tonight." the tech said as he slapped the information sticker on the vial.

"Oh, you bet." Tails said with a smile. "I thought I wasn't going to be able to do what I normally do after they put that thing in me tomorrow but turns out I can. Just have to watch out for magnets."

"What're they doing?" he asked, as he wrote down something on paper. "Putting in an AICD." Tails replied. "At your age?" the tech said. "Eh." Tails shrugged. "Stuff happens." The tech nodded as he placed the vial in a box. "Least you're in good spirits. Have a good night."

"You too." Tails said as the tech walked out. The fox turned the TV off, clicked off the light and drifted off to sleep.

"Jeez..." Tails moaned quietly as he woke up. He sat up on the side of the bed, the room still dark. "Three forty eight...?" he murmured as he dragged himself into the bathroom. He had gotten sleep but it hadn't been restful. He was groggy and could tell he'd been tossing and turning all night. Walking out, he went over to the window instead of climbing back into bed. His room was on the 4th floor and it overlooked the city. Cars zipped by in the early morning darkness, white dots moving swiftly and the buildings and streetlights giving their white and yellow lights washing the ground in an orange hue; stars dotted the sky as an airplane crossed the sky, it's blinking light dancing around the sky.

"Sir?" a voice called out behind him. "Yes?" Tails turned around to see a nurse standing in the doorway. "Are you OK?" she asked. He noticed a look of concern on her face. "Fine. Why do you ask?"

"Oh. We saw on the monitor you had a run of arrhythmia for a couple seconds bout two minutes ago. Did you feel any palpitations or pain?" Tails shook his head. "No. All I did was get out of bed."

"You didn't feel _anything_ when you woke up did you?" Again, Tails shook his head no. "Ok. Well let us know if you do." she said and walked out. The fox walked over to the bed and sat down. "Gonna be four soon. Might as well wait for them to take blood." he thought pulling out his laptop.

"Good morning." Dr. John said as he into Tails' room early that morning before 9. Sonic and Sally had gotten there just before 8 so they could spend as much time with him as they could before his procedure. However, they didn't have much time together. Dr. John came in with Dr. Richardson in tow to meet with everyone one last time, answer any final questions they had then take him back for surgery. Aside from asking how long it would take they didn't have any other questions.

After the doctors left, two nurses wearing surgical scrubs came into his room and unhooked him from the floor's wireless monitor and to a portable monitor so they could keep an eye on him until they got back in the holding area. The nurses slowly wheeled his bed out of the room, Sonic and Sally in tow close behind. Tails began to feel anticipation build in him and when they reached the double doors that led to the O.R., the nurses stopped to allow them to speak to each other before they took him in.

Sally went first, bending down and kissing him of the cheek. "We'll be here when you come out." she said with a shaky smile which he returned; he could see she was using every fiber of her being to keep from crying, however a tear fell down her cheek. Sonic went next, giving him a big hug. "See you when you get back." he said.

"Love you both." he told them then nodded at the nurses and they opened the doors and wheeled him through. Tails raised up and watched Sonic and Sally until the doors closed separating them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The doors shut and the fox laid back down as they maneuvered his bed through the halls, through the same corridor they had done the heart cath. Pulling up to a set of double doors, they rolled him into the same holding area and just two spaces away from where he'd been put just before the cath. The nurses wheeling him in let the nurse at the desk know and he pulled his paperwork up then went over to him just like last time. "Hi. I'm Craig and I'm just going to go over a few things." he said. The nurse was a fellow Mobian, a fox just like him and Tails shook his hand. "Alright." Tails said feeling a bit more comfortable. He grabbed Tails' wristband, looked it over and compared it to what was on the file. "Can you go ahead and comfirm that is correct?"

"It is." Tails said. "Okay, looks like you're having... an... ICD implant. So..." Craig clapped his hands. "We have about a 45 minute wait before they can take you back and before they do, there's a couple things we have to do before they can. Do you need to go to the bathroom at all?"

"No, I'm fine." Tails said. "You're sure?" Craig asked; Tails nodded he was. "Well if you do, let us know before they take you back cause once you're in there you can't go until it's over." he said, turning toward a small shelf sitting against the wall. He pulled out a small package and set it on top while he rummaged through the door. "Oh... figures they wouldn't put more in. I'll be right back." he said and walked away. 'Okay.' Tails thought as he sat up Indian style on the bed. 'I don't see why they can't take me back now.' he thought looking around. 'There aren't any other patients in here; unless they have one back there already...'

Craig came back to Tails' bed, carrying a small can in one hand and something else he couldn't identify in the other, but he did when Craig set them on the table; it was a can of shaving cream and an electric razor. 'Oh God, not this again.' he thought as Craig opened the package and took out a manual razor. "Can you lift your gown up and lay down for me?" he asked. Tails let out a sigh and did as he was asked, thankfully he wasn't asked to take his pants off like last time. Craig grabbed the electric razor and flicked it on, however this time the target area was Tails chest. On the left side of the chest, he shaved a good 6 inch square of fur away, then finished up with the manual razor. When he was done, he wiped the area down and tossed the razor in the trash as another nurse walked over this one a human female and waved at Tails.

"He prepped yet?" she asked. "Yeah. Shaved and everything. Just about to start the IV drip." She nodded and walked over to his bedside while Craig walked back toward the nurses station. "Hi. I'm Emily and I'll be monitoring your vitals while you're in surgery."

"Hi." Tails nodded. "How much longer until I go in?" She looked over at a clock on the wall. "Bout 30 minutes I believe; they finished up with the other guy? The double bypass?" she asked Craig. "I'm not sure." he replied as she motioned for his folder. "Okay. Miles, is it?" she asked. "Tails, actually." he said. "But, that's your name, isn't it?" she asked looking over the folder again. "Yeah, but I go by that."

"Ah." she said with a smile. "Well, Tails, do you have an advanced directive?"

"They asked me about that when they did that... what was it- cath."

"But you don't have one in writing?" she asked and he shook his head no. "In that case we have to ask again." she said. Like last time, he told them to do anything necessary and who would make decisions if he wasn't able to and she marked it down. 'Why can't they go by what I told them already?' he wondered as Craig came back carrying an IV bag and began setting it on a pole that had some kind of machine attatched to it. "Can you sign there, there and initial there?" she asked, which he did. "Okay." she said, taking the folder and closing it up. "That's about all we have to do. Right now, we're going to hook up a drip to your IV. It's not the anastetic though, just something to get fluid into your system. When was the last time you had something to drink?"

"Bout 9 last night." Tails said and she nodded. "Start him at 5." she said to Craig who nodded and began tapping buttons on the machine. It was an IV machine, a pole on wheels that held a white box with various buttons on it. Sticking the bag on the hook at the top of the pole, he then took the IV line and opened a compartment on the front of the machine, set the line inside and closed it back up. "You don't feel lightheaded or anything, do you?" Emily asked and Tails shook his head no. "Feel fine."

She reached over and squeezed his hand, the skin turning white then red quickly as the blood rushed back to the spot. "You don't seem to be dehydrated, but just in case, were going to give you some fluid." Craig turned the machine on and tapped a couple of the buttons. "You said... 4?"

"No, 5." she replied and he set it, which was 5 ml an hour. The IV began pumping it's contents into his system and he felt the skin around the IV grow cold and the taste of salt water in his mouth and he smacked his lips. "That should just about do it." she said, grabbing his file. "I'm going to see how much longer it's going to be; I'll let you know in a minute."

Craig waved at Tails and they left him alone again. Most people at the moment before a major surgery would've felt nervous or frightened but the fox felt none of those. True, when it first happened and up until the day before he refused to accept that things were bad but that was understandable; no one wanted to admit they had something of this calibur wrong with them. Though he went through a bit of denial, once the reality had set in he immediately went into fight mode and this surgery was the first step.

He noticed the saline taste in his mouth began to fade and about that time, Emily came back over to him. "You ready?" she asked. His head snapped to attention. "Might as well since I'm here." he said. Unlocking the beds wheels, Craig came over and helped her maneuver it out of it's space and they pushed him back towards the operating room, stopping at the nurses station so one of them could unlock the doors. The large red doors swung open and a rush of cold air hit him and he shivered. "Does it have to be so cold?" he asked pulling the sheet on the bed over him.

"Sorry." Emily said as they wheeled him to a doorway. "Operating rooms are kept pretty cold. It's mostly for sanitary reasons. The warmer it is the better bacteria thrive." The doorway was small and though they almost wedged the bed inside, they managed to get him through and into the operating room. It was exactly the same as the cath lab, though in this one the walls were half red tile and half blue tile. Not exactly a scheme he'd go with but that was just him. They pulled him up to the table and lowered the railing down and naturally, he went to climb over. "No, no!" Emily said quickly as the bed rolled slightly as Tails went to move. "Let us do that. Don't want you having an accident and we have to two operations."

"Okay." Tails said as Craig took position behind his head and Emily took his feet, both grabbing the bottom sheet. "On three." she said. "One, two, three." They both lifted and had him over on the table, then Craig took the bed and pushed it to one corner of the room. 'Could've done it myself.' he thought as he shifted to get a bit more comfortable. The 'mattress' on the table was very thin, about the thickness of two gymnastic mats and offered very little support. "I'll let Dr. John know we're ready." Craig said as Emily began unhooking him from the portable monitor and up to the one in the room. 'Can't they make these mattresses a little more comfortable?' he thought as she wrapped a BP cuff around his arm.

"You ok?" she asked, noticing him squirming around a lot. "The mattress. Don't feel good." he said as he found an angle that was a little more comfortable. "I know hon. Just try to deal with it as best you can." Once he was connected, she turned on the monitor and his vitals popped up on one of the screens showing his heart rate was steady, keeping in the mid 90's.

"Hello." a voice said as a man entered; it was Dr. John followed by Dr. Richardson. "Doing ok?" Dr. John asked Tails. "Other than the mattress, okay."

"He's prepped, right?" he asked Emily and she nodded yes then he looked back at Tails. "You ready?"

Tails nodded. "Yeah." he said quietly. Dr. John gave him a pat on the shoulder then went over to the sink with Dr. Richardson to scrub up while Emily began getting the tools necessary for the surgery; once that was done, she took a seat behind Tails' head while Dr. John and Dr. Richardson took position beside him. The fox began to feel an uneasiness build in him as the anticipation slowly grew inside. He just wanted to get it over with and it seemed like they were taking their time.

Then Tails saw a hand go over his head as Emily handed Dr. John a box. It had no markings on it that he could see but he didn't need markings to know what it was. "Okay, Tails." Dr. John said as he opened the box. "This... is what were going to be implanting in you." he said and pulled out a plastic bag. Inside was the device and to the fox's surprise, he handed it to him to hold. Tails took it and was surprised at how heavy it was. It felt like it weighed about two pounds and from that heft, he could tell it was a very thick piece of metal. "So that's it, huh?" he said, handing it back to the doctor. "It seemed bigger on the video."

"Don't worry. You won't even notice it." Dr. John said. "Okay people, I think we're ready." he said looking around the room while Emily gave some of the anesthetic in his IV. "How long does that take to work?" Tails asked. "Shouldn't be more than a couple minutes." Emily said as she pushed a button on the monitor to silence the beeping of his pulse. Lying there with only the steady hum of the A/C and the faint beeping of the cardiac monitor, he felt the anxiety grow in him a bit more and he took a deep breath to calm himself. 'You're going to be fine.' he told himself trying to maintain his composure, then suddenly he felt a wave of calmness begin to wash over him. Attached to the ceiling was a large overhead light connected to a track so it could be moved to look at any angle of a patient. Tails noticed the railing began to move slowly across the ceiling and the ceiling tile itself begin to swirl around. "I think it's starting to work." he said with his eyes half open.

"Mmm..." Tails moaned as he began to stir. He felt groggy and his vision was slightly clouded as he opened his eyes which were barely open allowing him to see only lights and distorted shapes. Voices spoke but they were muffled and he didn't quite pick up on what they were saying but he could tell it was a woman's voice. "Mmm..." he moaned again as he felt a hand on his shoulder. "He's awake." he heard her say and his eyes opened a bit more where he could see clearer. It was Sally and he saw her smile, though he could barely tell she did.

"How you feeling?" Sonic asked and Tails slowly turned his head toward him. "Ngh..." me muttered still under the effects of the anesthetic. His mind was a jumbled mess and he could barely understand what they were saying and he felt something pressing down on his chest; it hurt and felt like someone pressing down to stop a wound from bleeding. He turned his head toward Sally and smiled, though it was weak. "Hi..." he said, slurring his speech just slightly. "Feel... ok..." he trailed off then passed out again.

The next time he woke though, he was a bit more clear headed as the anesthetic had worn off more. "Hey." he said again, his smile much more alive while Sally bent down to give him a kiss on the cheek. "How long was I out?" he asked. "Bout three hours I think." Sonic said. "You woke up once but went right back out."

*heh* "I don't even remember that. Last thing-ngh!" he yelped as pain shot through his left side. "Mmm that hurts." he said. "Careful." Sally said. Tails reached up and gently placed a hand over it which cried in pain even with minimal pressure. The bandage over it was pretty thick, he guessed about an inch and there was still blood seeping through, though that was only a couple of small dots in the center. About an inch of fur around the bandage was gone though that didn't bother him; not as much as the other spot. "It's starting to hurt a little." Tails said as he moaned quietly.

"You shouldn't have moved." Sally scolded him and he nodded. "Can you feel it... working?" Sonic asked for lack of a better word. "Um..." Tails trailed off. "No, I don't think so. Other than that I'm fine." he said nodding to the wound. "At least you're ok." Sally said. *heh* "I thought it was going to look bigger." Tails said, his face wincing. "Not so bad. Mmm..." he moaned as he felt around for the call button. His senses were coming back fairly quickly and he hoped it wouldn't get too bad before he could get something for it.

"Here." Sonic said as he grabbed it from the hook on the wall behind the bed and handed it to Tails. "Ngh..." he muttered his thanks and immediately hit the button for the nurse. "Nurses station, can I help you?" a man asked when it picked up.

"I'm having... some pain." he muttered. "I'll send your nurse in." he said and hung up. Tails laid the remote across his lap and laid his head back and tried to focus on something else. "Are you sure you're OK?" Sonic asked. "Mmm." Tails nodded. "Just the anesthetic wearing off." It was manageable but it was steadily getting worse. "Tony to 810. Tony to 810." a voice said over the intercom and in less than a minute, a nurse walked in. "Hey, you're awake." he said. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Starting to hurt." Tails said, nodding toward the bandage. "On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad is it?" he asked. "Bout... a 7." Tails said. "Okay, I'll get you something right now." the nurse said and left. "I wish I was still out." Tails said, his face grimacing. A couple minutes later the nurse came back carrying a small plastic cup with two white pills in it and a cup of water. "Still bad?" he asked and Tails nodded quickly. "These should help." he handed both to Tails and the fox took them, popping the pills in his mouth and washing them down with the water. "You should start feeling better soon but we can't give you anything else for another 4 hours. If you still are though, let us know." he said taking the cups from Tails. "My name's Tony and I'll be your nurse until 7 tonight."

"Thank you." Tails said and Tony walked out. Tails reached down to throw the blanket off his legs and yelped as his wound screamed when he accidentally grabbed with his left arm. "Dammit!" he yelled and hit his fist against the railing, pained moans coming from him. Sonic grabbed them and pulled it down. "Thank you." Tails replied through clenched teeth. "Gotta remember you can't use that arm for a bit bud."

*knock knock* "Good afternoon." Dr. John said as he walked in carrying something in his hand. "Well you look good. How're you feeling?"

"Better now." he said with a smile, thought the bandage pressing down kept a dull pain coming from the incision. "Good. I heard you were having some pain earlier." Tails nodded. "Yeah, but it's not as bad now. Just feels like someone pressing down."

"But no other pain?" Dr. John asked and Tails shook his head no. "Norco usually works pretty good; you shouldn't have more but if you do, let us know. Have you felt your device working? No feeling like it's pulsing or rapid heart rate?"

"No." Tails said shaking his head again. "Feel normal. Aside from that." he nodded toward the bandage again. Dr. John nodded and took his stethoscope from around his neck and placed the end on Tails chest. "Just breathe normal." he said, sticking it in his ears and grabbing Tails' wrist. He moved it around to a couple of places then took it off and placed it around his neck. "Sounds good." he said and all three of them smiled. "Don't hear any signs of arrhythmia or your heart skipping a beat. I'll get an EKG later on today just to be sure but in the meantime..." he said handing Tails what he'd been carrying when he walked in. "I want you to wear this while the wound heals." Tails unfolded it and it was a sling. "That'll keep you from using your arm or moving it."

With a bit of help and a little more pain Tails put it on and it actually helped alleviate some of the pain. Having his arm bent meant it would push his shoulder up and take some of the weight off it, allowing his skin to stretch less which in turn took pressure off the wound. "That feels a lot better." Tails said. "Now once it heals and that comes off, I don't want you lifting your arm over your head, just about here." he said, extending his arm straight out to the side. "Doesn't sound too hard." Tails said. He didn't do much that had him lifting his arms over his head so that wouldn't be a problem. "That's about all for right now. Y'all have any other questions?"

"How long until I can go home?"

"Normally we do observation for a week, but some patients have went home in 5 days. Depends on how well you do." Tails smiled as he found a new challenge. Dr. John waited for them to ask something else but they remained silent. "Okay. I'll go put the order for the EKG in and take you off the NPO list too. You folks have a good day."

"Thank you." Sally said as he left.

Around 5 that afternoon, a technician, this time a female human came into his room pushing a computer next to his bed while Sonic and Sally stepped out. "Hi. I'm Stephanie; I'll be doing an EKG. Have you had one before?" she asked. Tails nodded he had. "Great." she said with a perky smile. "Can you lift up your gown for me?"

He nodded and she began placing more pads on his body as well as his legs then attached the machines leads to them. "Okay. Try to be as still as possible." she said and pressed a button. The machine clicked and whirred as it started up. About a minute later, it began spitting out paper that she looked over, tearing it and discarding some then began unhooking him. "That's it?" Tails asked. "That's it." she said as she pulled the leads off, followed by the pads. "Thought it take longer." She rolled the bundle of wire up, hanging it on a hook. "Thank you." she said and left, then Sonic and Sally came back in.

When dinner rolled around, Sonic and Sally stepped out to get something so they could eat with him and while they were gone, one of the workers brought his tray to him. Sitting on it was a fruit cup along with a glass of lemonade. Underneath the napkin and silverware, there was a receipt that listed what it was. At the top in bold letters were the words 'HEART HEALTHY'. "Hamburger, fruit cup, mustard, mayo and lemonade." he said, then pulled the lid off. Sitting alone on a plate was a hamburger, three leaves of lettuce, a single tomato and a packet each of mustard and mayonnaise. "Wonderful." he said.

"Hey." Sonic said as they walked in carrying a white bag. "Oh, they brought your tray in. Anything good?" Sally asked as the sat down. Tails pulled the lid off revealing the burger. "Is that even food? What is that?!" Sonic asked. "I don't know." Tails said with a laugh. "What'd you guys get? Gotta be better than this." Sonic pulled out two small subs, handing one to Sally. While they had a lot in them they were small, about three or four inches long. "Yet I get this wonderful... thing." he said poking the bun, letting out an audible 'ew'. Being covered up and still hot caused condensation to build on the inside of the lid and onto the bun. However, it was bigger than what you'd get in a fast food place and probably a lot better for you so it gained a point for that. Grabbing his napkin, he wiped the bun off.

"You sure you don't want me to go get you something?" Sonic asked, his face grimacing at the burger. "No, it's fine. Besides, I'm hungry now." Tails said, taking the top bun off and opening the mayo and mustard. "You must be if you're willing to eat that." Sonic quipped as he took a bite from his sandwich. Tails made the most out of what he could with the condiment packets reassembled the burger and took a bite, a rather unsure and horrified look on his face.

"How is it?" Sally asked. He chewed it for a few seconds then swallowed. "Not bad actually." he said. "Could use a little cheese. I mean, it's not something I'd want every day," he said stopping to take another bite. "But going on what I've had in here so far, not bad. How're those?"

"I've had better." Sonic said. "Well it's not swimming in chili..." Sally quipped. "Be better then." Sonic said. "I'd rather be having one of those." Tails said as he took a drink from the lemonade. "Least you didn't have to pay for yours. You believe these cost seven bucks?"

"Each?" Tails asked, taking another bite. "No." Sonic said shaking his head. "I wouldn't have gotten them if they were that much. But it was easier than going out and getting something; probably would've paid about the same somewhere else anyway."

Tails finished his burger and set the lid back on the tray. "I don't see how you managed to get through that." Sonic said, shaking his head with a laugh. "Actually not that bad." he said. "You want us to bring you something tomorrow?" Sally asked. "Yeah, if you can." he said. "Can you take me with you?" he asked with a laugh. "I don't think they'd like that very much." Sally said as she bent down to give him a kiss. "We'll be back tomorrow."

It was a pretty boring night as the last two had been. Nurses kept coming in, checking his wound and changing bandages every couple hours, though for the night they applied one more with a bit of antibiotic ointment so he could sleep and they wouldn't have to wake him up to change it. The fox drifted off to sleep around 10, but around 2 that morning he woke up to answer natures call. Not being used to having a handicap, he tried to sit up but when he felt his arm tugging at the sling remembered why he couldn't so easily. He tried to grab the railing and pull himself up with his good arm but let out a "Mmm" as the wound disagreed with his attempt. 'That's right.' he thought and hit the call button.

A minute later, a female human nurse came into his room. "D'you call?" she asked and he nodded quickly. "Need to go and I can't get up." he said, feeling like he was about to bust. She went over and helped him up and walked with him over to the door to ensure he didn't fall. "Call if you need help." she said and Tails nodded and slid the door closed; unfortunately for the fox, the hassle didn't end there as they had him using one of those large plastic containers to go number one and it wouldn't have been so bad had he only had one good arm. Somehow me managed to use it and not go all over the place and closed the lid. As he turned to wash his hands, the motion tugged at his wound and he winced. "Dammit!" he muttered as he washed his free hand then walked out. The nurse standing by went to help but he waived her off.

"Are you ok?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." he said curtly as he lowered himself gingerly on the side of the bed. "I'm sorry." he said shaking his head. "This just hurts." his head nodding toward the wound. "Do you want something for it?" the nurse asked and he nodded. "Alright, I'll be right back." she said and left. She came back and handed him a glass of water and two Norco which he took. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that." he said feeling about an inch high.

"It's alright hon." she said as she took the glass from him. "You need anything else?" she asked and he shook his head no. "Alright, try to get some sleep. We'll be out there if you need anything, just ask." she said and left. Tails thanked her and went to lay back down. Raising the head of the bed up, he pulled his legs on the bed then dropped them almost immediately. Even that movement made his wound speak again. 'Not gonna get better. Just get it over with.' he told himself. Taking a deep breath, he swung both legs on the bed and let out a nice "Ngh!" as he fell back against the bed, the movement causing both halves of the incision to move opposite each other.

"Oh God..." he moaned quietly as he felt this feeling of helplessness wash over him and tears began to fall from his face. Being alone at the moment, the almost constant pain and the last few days of ignoring his emotions and frustrations became too much to bear and it all released in a massive explosion of emotions. Grabbing his pillow and covering his face, he cried into it and cried hard. "I don't want this! I don't..." the fox sobbed into his pillow until he fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Welcome to chapter 5 guys and gals. I wanted to let you know that after this chapter I will be skipping through a lot of time and it's not going to be 'a few weeks' or 'two months later' kind of time skips. There's going to be 'a year later' and the like, but will have shorter time skips. I've decided this because one, it's based on personal experience and two, most of this didn't happen in terms of weeks and months. While there will be those timeframes in chapters, over the last eleven years a good chunk of that time I have felt normal and I'm not going to go into every mundane detail in those years. With that out of they way, enjoy and thanks for reading. ^_^

He woke up just after 7 that morning, his wound calling out in pain but ignored it as best he could, somehow managing to crawl out of bed and get to the bathroom. "Mmm." he moaned as he sat down, his wound jarring when he settled or made more than the slightest of moves; the best course to take to avoid pain was to go slow though slow wasn't in his nature. It hurt, but he elected to go without any medication for it unless necessary. Never having been a big fan of taking pills for pain, he didn't want to take the chance of accidentally taking one too many and had always put them off until any pain he had became too much to bear. But the pain aside, he was feeling better.

It also helped that he felt better emotionally having had the spill of emotions the night before. Letting go of his bottled up feelings had done wonders and he felt like himself again. Of course it was expected that wouldn't be the only one, that much was a given. But the best thing he could do is take things one day at the time..

Tails glanced down at the bandage which had a couple of tiny dots of blood on it. 'Oh that's nice.' he thought with a quiet chuckle. He'd been fighting major battles most of his life and this wasn't the last. He had no memory of either of his parents and from a young age, he'd helped in a major war against one of the most evil men anyone had ever seen. The fox had done more in his 12 years than most kids or adults for that matter. He was a genius, having built countless machines, gadgets and devices over the years, built an entire lab from the ground up as well as a fully functional plane he could fly just as well as any other pilot.

And he'd faced his share of dangers as well. Guns, lasers, robots, pits full of spikes, chemical pools and an evil genius that was almost at his IQ level but now this looked to be an obstacle that would prove almost impossible to get over. While he could keep crying and feeling depressed about it, in the end that would accomplish nothing and decided to face it head on and now that the initial spilling of emotions had been released, it was time to buckle down and fight this new battle head on as he'd done with all the others.

That morning, Sonic and Sally came as they had every day their presence immediately boosted his spirits and he felt completely normal. They even brought him a doughnut and orange juice which helped cover the small breakfast they gave him. "Oh, that's good." he said, chocolate smearing on his upper lip. "What'd they bring you?" Sonic asked looking at the deserted tray on the table. "A tiny bowl of fruit, a couple dabs of cottage cheese and milk." he said. "Wonderful." Sonic said flatly. When they checked his bandage that night, it had stopped bleeding and began to scab over and they applied a fresh bandage, gave him his medication for the night and he went off to sleep.

7 am rolled around the next morning and they brought him another thrilling meal of a bagel, cream cheese, jelly and a muffin. 'Least it looks edible.' he said poking the bagel with a finger. It didn't feel hard and the muffin oddly enough was still warm. It was the first time in the last few days he'd had something that actually looked good. The only drawback was that the meals were a bit smaller than what he would've had but he had no complaints other than that. "All finished?" the nurse asked that came in. "Yeah. Wish it had been a bit more." he said. "I know." she said with a grin. "I don't see how anyone can eat this stuff. Especially the eggs." she said with a shudder. "Couldn't get me to eat those for anything."

"I know. I don't even think they're real eggs." Tails said with a laugh as she took the tray. "Would you like to have a bath this morning?" she asked and Tails nodded. "Please." he replied and she nodded. "Oh, you're family called and said they wouldn't be able to get up here until later this afternoon." Tails nodded and she left. When she came back, she was carrying a pink tub and an armful of washcloths and towels. Setting them on the bed, she took the tub into the bathroom and filled it with warm water and set it on the bedside table, then took a few bottles of shampoo and soap out of her pocket and set them on the table.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to do much with his arm out of commission, she helped him get his gown off while keeping himself partially covered, .dipped the bottle in the water to try to warm it up. She noticed him staring at the bottle in her hand and she handed it to him. "It's a wash and dry soap. You don't have rinse it off."

"Never heard of that before." he said as she took the towel out. "Ready?" she asked and he nodded. Immediately, she worked the left side, getting under his arm and the places he couldn't reach on his own. He let out a silent sigh as the warm water was refreshing and he felt the grime wash off of him; while he would've preferred a shower this was more than enough for the time being. After that, she stepped out so he could wash the lower half and when he finished, she wrapped a towel around his neck and draped another over his shoulders. Opening the bottle of shampoo, she dumped it on his head and Tails shuddered as the still cold liquid hit him. Immediately, she worked it into a lather, then began rubbing it off with a third towel. "Never heard of dry shampoo." he said, his voice muffled from the towel being rubbed across his head. "Only hospitals have it since most people in here can't take showers. Makes it easier." the nurse said. Having dried him off as much as possible, she tossed the towels in a hamper. "Feel better?" she asked, grabbing the empty bottles and the tub. "Like you wouldn't believe." he said with a smile.

The next few days seemed to drag on, however, they noticed Tails was making rapid progress. In four days, his wound had closed to the point where, save for something pulling at it very hard, there was little to no chance of it opening. Blood had stopped seeping through the wound and his heart was responding well to the therapy. "I've never seen anyone heal with this speed." he said as he looked at the wound then reapplied the bandage. "Your heart looks like it's responding well to the therapy; I haven't seen one trace of arrhythmia at all since we did the implant. If everything goes well, I think you can go home tomorrow." All three of them smiled wide grins. "Really?" Tails asked with cautious optimism. "I think so. I'd like to run a couple more blood tests and see how you do until tomorrow but everything looks good. I don't see no reason to keep you in here much longer."

The next day, Dr. John came in with a smile on his face. "Are you ready to go home?" he asked Tails who nodded quickly. "Been ready for a couple days."

"I bet." he said. "I think you're going to do well with that. I don't even think we'll have to give you any medication to take. For right now, I'll make an appointment for you to come into my office in a couple weeks to follow up but right now, I think you're good to go. I'll have your discharge papers drawn up and we'll start on getting you out of here."

The second he left, Tails almost jumped up and down on the bed with happiness. He'd spent way more time in that place than he wanted to but life would go back to normal. Grabbing his laptop, he opened it and began researching into the generator he had been working on before he got sidetracked.

By noon that day, he was released from the hospital, they grabbed something from a fast food joint to celebrate and by 1:30 that afternoon, he was already back in his lab. "Thanks for helping." Tails said to Sonic as he stood just outside the door. "No problem. So, what do I do?" Sonic asked, looking at the force field Tails had to abandon a couple days ago. "Easy, see the three rows of switches and the green button?"

"Yeah." Sonic said. "Flip them then press the button." Sonic did so and the generator came to life, giving off a whir. "So far so good." he said quietly, feeling normal. "If I tell you to shut it off or you see me do something odd, flip the red switch down as fast as you can." Sonic nodded and had his thumb by it. He wasn't sure what was going to happen, but he had to know if he could still work on his things or not. The fox stood about 20 feet away and took a small step forward.

"OK?" Sonic asked and Tails nodded, taking another step. He was waiting for something to happen, a shock or frantic beeping, a tingle but nothing happened as he got within arm distance and shut it off. "Guess I can still work on this thing." he said; his voice was calm but his heart was racing slightly. "I'll let you get to work." Sonic said and left the fox alone.

After a couple hours, he managed to expand the size of the field to accommodate three people, tinkering around with various parts, trying new refractory lenses and inserting a larger power cell. It was about the size of a jumbo Rubik's cube so it could be activated and dropped. The refractory lenses sat on the sides and top, while the battery plugged in underneath. He wanted to have it small enough to fit in a pocket or be worn like a watch, but with the lenses and size of the power cell, it would have to do. Grabbing new lenses, he went to work using 6 mm lenses. While he wished he had at least 12 mm lenses, he was out and had to use what he had until he could get more which would be in a couple days. The power cell was a 30 volt but using 6 mm lenses, swapped it for a 12 as the 30 would burn the lenses in half a second. Taking it over to a table in the center of the room and setting it down. "Here goes nothing."

Flicking it on, the device came to life and a bright blue field surrounded him and a huge grin grew on his face. "It works!" he shouted, clapping his hands. But within a few seconds, there was a hiss and the field disappeared. "C'mon!" he yelled as wisps of smoke rose from it and immediately he saw what happened. Just like he thought, the lenses burned out and he removed them, shaking his head. The 6 mm were the strongest he had at the moment but still couldn't hold up to a 12 volt cell which was the minimum power he needed for the field. The only lenses he had left were a couple 10 mm, 8 mm and 3, 2 and 1 mm, those being suitable for a forward force field and not one that surrounded an area.

"Gonna need new lenses; 30 at least." he said as he threw the burned lenses away and took the generator back to the table. Removing the power cell, he checked it and saw it was still in good condition but set it back on the shelf. Now the problem was ordering new parts but he decided to take a break and go upstairs. Turning the lights off, he stepped into the hallway and saw Sonic standing at the end. "Oh, dinners ready." he said. "Be there in a second." he said and headed to the bathroom to wash his hands. 'Wonder if a 40 lens would do the job...?' he wondered as he soaped up.

'Eh, worry bout it later.' Grabbing a towel to dry his hands off, he went to step outside the door but suddenly, he felt a surge of energy wash over his chest. Tails froze in his tracks as the sensation hit, followed by another a few seconds later. Gripping the door frame, he clenched his teeth. "Please don't fire." he begged quietly as the feeling subsided and did not happen again. He stood motionless, waiting to see if it would happen again, but he felt nothing out of the ordinary. When he finally calmed down a minute later, he realized that was what the video he'd watched in the hospital called a 'burst'. While he was ok, it was pretty scary. To him, it felt like the sensation of going down a hill in a car and your stomach feeling like it was trying to come up and out of your throat, or going downhill on a roller coaster and tickled slightly. 'Guess that's what that feels like.' he thought and headed for the dining room.

"Hey." Sally said with a smile. "Everything go ok down there?" she asked. "Yeah. Burned out more lenses so I'm going to get some bigger ones." She nodded and while she had little idea of what he was talking about, she did find it interesting. It was a meatloaf dinner, mashed potatoes, corn and a salad and Sonic was the first to dig in as usual. "You ok?" Sally asked, noticing something a little off with the fox. "Fine. Just stressed about that generator." he said. No way was he going to worry them having their first dinner at home. If it got any worse he'd tell them but for the moment there was no need to worry them with something that could be a momentary problem.

"Good night." Sally and Sonic said as he walked back to his room, while they headed to theirs. After brushing his teeth and getting that stuff out of the way, he went to dress in his pajamas. Managing to pull his shirt off one handed, which proved to be a bit harder than he bargained for though he soldered through it, he dropped it on the floor near the hamper. 'That couldn't have been easier.' he thought. Grabbing the pajama top, he went to slip it on, but couldn't get it around his left arm. "C'mon..." he muttered as he tried in vain to pull it on. With the restriction of lifting his arm, he didn't even bother and laid it aside and sat down on the bed, pulling the sheet back. 'Better than a hospital bed.' he thought and went to lay down. "Nngh." he moaned as he hit the mattress. Once again, he forgot about the incision on his chest and when he laid on his side, the weight of his body pulling on the wound made it yell.

Letting out a sigh, he tried his back but that too was painful. "Dammit." he muttered, grunting and struggling to get up. Flicking the lamp on, he let out another disgusted sigh. "Can't even sleep in my own bed." he said. Walking out to the living room, he grabbed the remote and flicked the TV on and sat down in one of the recliners. Turning the volume down, he folded the footrest out and yawned as sleep began to take grip. Pushing the backrest back just slightly, he found a comfortable position that would allow him to be comfortable and remain in a semi laying position. Putting the TV on cartoons for background noise, he drifted off to sleep in a few minutes.

"Ngh!" he jerked awake from a dead sleep as he felt his body tingle. "Shit..." he muttered, his hands shaking and exhaling a shaky breath. It wasn't a shock but another burst and he leaned forward to try to regain his composure. As quickly as it happened, once again things subsided and he felt normal. They came and went so quick that it was over before he could really react. 'This gonna happen every night?' he wondered and reclined back. '5:19?' he thought checking the time on the clock. While he still felt tired, there was no way he was going back to sleep after what just happened. Reaching up to the bandage, he felt the device in his chest. It was a strange feeling, something inside him like that. While he hated that he had to have it and the little bursts of energy scaring him half to death, not knowing if it was going to just tickle or actually fire, he was glad he had it.

No doubt it was not the typical way of feeling about it, but without it, he probably wouldn't be alive at that moment and regardless whether or not he wanted it, he wanted more to be alive and that seemed like a good compromise. Getting up, he walked to the bathroom and started his day.

"You're up early." Sonic said as he sat down on the couch. "Got up at 5." Tails said, handing him the remote. "Did you sleep in the chair?" Sonic said, taking the remote. "Had to. Couldn't lay in bed." he replied, pointing at the bandage. "Well remember what they said, shouldn't be more than a week until it heals. Might as well claim that as your bed til then."

After breakfast, he headed for his lab to tinker around when another burst hit, this one being much milder than the others though it made little difference. It was just a slight tingle that washed over him then vanished and he laughed. "Kind of tickles." he said. Ignoring it, he went over to the bench and ignoring the generator, he opted to finally fix a broken communicator he'd been ignoring for a couple months. It wouldn't take more than an hour as it was a matter of replacing the speaker which had popped out and was dangling by the wires. "When will he learn to take care of this stuff?" he wondered out loud.

Grabbing a box of tools, he opened it and took out a soldering gun then let out another laugh as the tickling feeling washed over him again. Continuing to ignore it, he pressed on but it didn't matter how hard he tried to ignore it, they kept coming one after another about 20 seconds apart. 'That can't be good.' he thought as he set everything down and went to let them know what was going on. His mind was racing, worried this might only be the beginning of something much worse but tried to keep from thinking of it.

When he walked into the living room and went straight to where Sonic was sitting. "Hey Sonic." Tails said as he sat down next to him, giggling. "You ok?" Sonic asked, cocking an eyebrow. "No." he replied and pointed to the bandage. "This thing's acting funny." he said bluntly. "Just making this... tickling sensation."

"This happened before?" Sonic asked and Tails nodded. "Yeah. Couple times yesterday and it woke me up this morning. But it's been going for about ten minutes." Just then, Sally came out from the back of the house, she saw the look on Sonic's face and rushed over. "What's wrong?"

"This things going nuts." Tails said, pointing to the bandage. "I don't think it's kicked yet."

"Do you want to go to the hospital?" she asked. Tails shook his head no. "I think I'm fine. It's just annoying." he said, smiling as another burst washed over him. "I'm going to call your doctor just in case." she said, grabbing her phone and calling his cardiologist.

An hour later, the fox was sitting in Dr. John's office. "So no pain then?" he asked, plugging a strange looking wand into a laptop. "Yeah. They're just tingly." Tails said. "No shocks?"

"No. I don't think so." the fox replied as Dr. John handed him the wand; it was pink and about 5 inches long. "Hold that over your device please." he said. "Just relax and breathe normally." Tails nodded and sat back in the chair. He couldn't see what was on the monitor but Dr. John was staring at it intently, tapping the screen intermittently and holding his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "Looks like you're paced at 90... how often are the bursts happening?" he asked, tapping the screen a couple times.

"Woah..." Tails muttered as he had a bit of dizziness. For a second he started to fall forward but caught himself. "You ok?" Dr. John asked and Tails nodded. "Just got dizzy for a second... uh... bout every minute or so." Dr. John nodded and tapped the screen again. "Okay. Have you had any rapid heartbeats or felt your pulse racing? Tapping coming from your chest?"

"Unless I've been asleep, no." Tails said. Dr. John nodded and tapped the screen again then turned it around so he could see. It had the same readout as a cardiac monitor, though this had three lines instead of one. Below were various numbers and various other info. Dr. John tapped the screen yet again as another burst went through him. This time a log was displayed that showed each time a burst had happened, including a time stamp just a few seconds ago. "It looks like you're in atrial fibrillation." Dr. John said.

"What's that?" Tails asked. "Well essentially, it's a type of arrhythmia. Now, the arrhythmia you have affects the bottom part of your heart or the ventricles. Atrial or a-fib for short affects the Atrium and causes it to flutter. The good news is, it's not as serious as v-tach but, it can cause problems like a stroke or trigger an arrhythmia."

Tails felt his heart jump a beat at the word stroke. "But don't worry." he said reassuringly. " _It is_ very treatable and the chance of a stroke is unlikely as long as it's caught and treated early." Dr. John said taking the wand from him. "So, what are the chances of having one?" he asked, his voice quieter than normal.

"With cases like this, about 30%. But most with your condition are over 50. I'd say given the fact that it was caught so early and the fact you're still young, it's 15%; even lower with medication." Rolling over to a desk just off to the side, he pulled a prescription pad out and began scribbling in it. "There's a medication called Sotalol that has a 70% chance of keeping it in check. I'd like to try it on you and if it works, we'll go from there." He tore it off and handed it to the fox. "So, that's it?" Tails asked, wondering why there wasn't being something more done. Regardless what the doctor said, it was a serious matter to him and he wanted something more done than just holding a piece of plastic against him and taking a pill.

"That's it. Get that filled and take it tonight and if you keep having bursts, call and we'll look into it further but if not, I'll see you in two weeks." he said. Taking the prescription, Tails walked back to the waiting room where Sonic and Sally were. "Finished?" she asked as they both got up; he nodded.

"Yeah. Want's me to get this filled." he said and handed her the prescription. "Sir?" a woman called from behind him; it was the receptionist and he walked over to her. "We can fit you in next Wednesday at eleven?"

"That's fine." he said and she typed it up, handing him an appointment reminder card. "Thank you." he said and the three of them walked out.

"What'd they say?" Sally asked as the buckled up. "He said I had something called Atrial... something or other." he replied. "So you're gonna be ok?" Sonic asked. "Yeah. He told me to get that prescription and come back next week." He decided to withhold that he was at risk for a possible stroke for two reasons. One, he was going to be ok and two, there was a minimal chance of it happening. "See, I told you not to worry." Sonic said to Sally as she started the car.

Later that day

After he got home, he immediately took the first pill and hoped they would do something and thankfully, it did. About twenty minutes after taking the pill, the bursts had almost completely vanished, save for one that was almost nonexistent compared to the rest; forty minutes later he felt normal once again. Coming out of his room, Sally saw him. "Feeling better?" she asked and he nodded. "Yeah. Haven't felt it in an hour." he said with a smile. "Good." she said, walking up to him and giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Dinner's ready. Hope you don't mind it's spaghetti." The fox's tails swished rapidly. "Really?!" he asked excitedly. "After today I thought you'd like it." she said.

With the bursts now having subsided, a sense of normalcy returned to the three of them; the fox was even more upbeat than when he had come back home. But the best surprise was that night. He actually got sleep, a full night's sleep with no interruptions. He woke up at 7:30 and while he preferred to wake up between 5 and 6 before the sun was up, he didn't mind since he got sleep. Sonic was the first one awake as usual and gave him a tired but happy "Morning." as he went to start the coffee. "Morning." Tails said, his voice chipper.

"You sound *yawn* happy." Sonic said, turning the coffee pot on. "Well it helps when you sleep all night." he said going over to the fridge to get something to munch on. "You did? Good." Sonic said as he rummaged through the cupboards for the creamer and sugar. "No problems?"

"No. If there were I was asleep." the fox said, settling on toast. "You ever wonder if coffee is bad for you?" Sonic looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. "Been drinking it for years. *drip drip drip* Hasn't hurt me yet."

*heh* "One of these days you're gonna drink too much and get so wired, you'll run for a week nonstop." Tails said. Sonic nodded nonchalantly. "Heck, I probably could without it."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry I haven't done anything lately. Not having my own laptop/PC to write on makes it hard to get time in to work on it, not to mention my sleeping patterns have been wrecked the past couple months. Also, I'd like to apologize for the length of this chapter. I wanted to to more but I also wanted to get something up so you guys wouldn't think I was dead or something. In any case, I hope you enjoy. ^_^

A few weeks later

"That should do it." he said quietly, setting his tools down on the table. It had been touch and go with the field generator, having come close but never quite achieving the results he wanted. He had a brief success last week when he managed to create a stable field that lasted about 10 seconds; problem was though, a converter burned out causing the power output to become unstable and burn out one of the relays and had to order the parts. This time though he spent a little more money than usual and bought an insulated reinforced converter. Didn't like the cost but he had more money than most 12 year old's having sold most of his inventions or taking contracts and building whatever was wanted, non-lethal of course. Unless it was robotic, it wouldn't hurt anyone.

Closing the access panel, he turned it on and it gave a quiet whine then a steady hum. "So far so good... no power imbalances." he mumbled looking at a display. Tapping the screen, it hummed a little louder as it powered up then there was a whoosh as the field activated, surrounding the fox in a light blue bubble. Watching the monitor closely, ten seconds passed, then twenty followed by thirty. Hope welled inside and he clapped his hands, grinning.

"It works!" he said, a tear of joy welling in his eye. Shutting it off, he checked the numbers and saw there had been no issues at all and the power had been stable; and with it having a stable output for over a minute, there was little chance it would fail. Now it was a matter of giving it a field test which could be done tomorrow. "Too bad I can't make it an absorption field. That'd save on power-"

He stopped has he felt his heart race suddenly, heart pounding in his chest and a feeling like he'd just ran a marathon. "What the..." he trailed off as he steadied himself on the table. His heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest and he began to panic. There was no pain at all. Just a feeling like he'd been running, feeling his device giving bursts in quick succession. Sitting down, he grabbed his phone and readied it, bringing up Sally's number and leaving it so all he had to do was tap the screen to call.

"Don't go off..." he pleaded, grabbing the table and gritting his teeth but suddenly, the pounding feeling vanished and he felt normal as if nothing had happened. He waited for a good minute, completely motionless as he braced himself for a shock but nothing else happened. "Thank you." he said quietly and headed out to the living room. Since he'd gotten the device, things were definitely different. Two weeks after he got it, his incision had healed to where he could sleep on his side and could shower; that was a wonderful feeling to finally be able to bathe properly after more than two weeks of sponge baths. He was cleared to use his left arm to lift more than 5 pounds but not to raise it above his head for another month due to the danger of the wires becoming dislodged.

However, things hadn't been smooth sailing. He still had bursts and though they weren't as strong as they were before, they were strong enough to be felt at night and had woken him up. Sometimes he'd go to lay down and they'd keep him awake for a good hour, sometimes two which threw his sleeping pattern into disarray. But for the most part, things were good. He didn't notice it unless he took his shirt off or grazed a hand over it as the fur had began growing back already. And no one could tell he had one so people staring wasn't a problem.

Making his way into the living room, Sally was on the couch and he went over, sitting down beside her. The fox had the same look on his face that he had a couple weeks ago when he went to the hospital. "What's wrong?" she asked, setting the remote down.

"It's doing it again."

"Giving you that tickle?" she asked.

"Yeah, but... I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. Felt like I was running but all I was doing was working on that generator." he said while she called to make an appointment for him.

"Well, they said they were booked, but they had an opening for one tomorrow." Sally told him and he nodded. "It'll be ok. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." she said trying to reassure the fox but it didn't do much for either of them. That particular feeling he felt when his heart rate skyrocketed hadn't been felt since his days of fighting Robotnik. Dodging laser fire in his plane of taking out multiple robots caused his heart to skyrocket more than once but it always returned to normal when the action was over. However, he had no choice to take things as they came and tried to keep from thinking about it as best he could.

Next day

Sitting inside the office, Dr. John took the wand off Tails and studied the screen. "And how long have those feelings lasted?" he asked. "When they've popped up..." he trailed off for a second to think. "No more than a minute. The longest was about 5 minutes."

"And you started the medication already?" he asked and Tails nodded, Dr. John still studying the screen then printing out a sheet of paper that recorded his rhythms. "Well, it doesn't look like you're having one now and everything seems normal; no shocks or major bursts. You've only been taking the medication a day so I would give it a couple days so your body has time to adjust to it. Unfortunately that's about all I can do." he said closing the monitor. "Just keep taking the meds and if you get any shocks, call us but otherwise we'll see you next week."

Tails let out a sigh while Sally thanked him and they walked out. It was a little disappointing that again, there wasn't anything that could be done except for monitoring the situation but he didn't see the use in crying about it. They got in the elevator and she turned to him. "You ok?" she asked and he nodded as the doors opened. "Yeah. I just wish there was something they could do." he said as they walked outside and toward the car.

A month later

Tails climbed out of bed, another night of sleep under his belt. After a bit of a turbulent beginning with his new device, he finally got it under control with help from medication and taking a bit more time away from his lab. He never realized how stressful it was, constantly putting himself under pressure be it trying to fix something, come up with a new invention or improve on something. Now he only did it to relax through tinkering or when he came up with an idea to put into practice. "Where are they...?" he mumbled sleeply to himself, rummaging around for a pair of pants and underwear. "Thought I had them set out last night." That morning they planned to head out and have a day out of the house, get some breakfast and see a movie.

"There you are." he said, grabbing them and heading to the bathroom, shivering a little as the air was cold and the heater hadn't kicked back on yet. "Morning." Sonic said from the dining room where he was sipping on a cup of coffee but Tails still groggy from sleep waived and gave a mumbled "Morning" and smile as he headed into the bathroom. Setting his clothes on the toilet tank, he stripped and set his clothes by the door so he could pick them up when he was done then went over to the shower. 'Why does it have to be cold today?' he wondered and turned the hot water on full blast, the water letting off steam as it heated and warming the bathroom up. Feeling the steam cut through his fur and to his skin, he smiled as goosebumps popped up and stepped inside.

He didn't stay in long as it was more a way to wake up rather than to clean himself but it did the job and he was awake and refreshed. Stepping out, he grabbed a towel and began drying himself off and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His eyes and hand immediately went to the scar on his chest. It had been covered with fir a couple weeks after it healed but it hadn't completely vanished. The scar tissue kept a small bit of fur from growing around it, leaving a small white line which stood out from the yellow of his fur. Running a finger across it, he could feel the outline of the device and if he looked closely, he could see it causing the skin underneath to stretch over it making it stick out; also prominent was the housing that held the wires that ran from it to his heart. Though he had gotten used to seeing it, he knew he'd never really become used to seeing it. Shrugging it off as best he could, he dried off and joined Sonic and Sally for breakfast before they headed out.

Setting near the back so they'd be higher up, the theatre went dark as the previews began. Given the early time of day, there were around 10 people inside along with them which was good since they wouldn't have to suffer through people's commentary of the film or have to deal with noisy kids. The movie they chose had a standard 'family gets lost in the woods and has to survive until there found' plot. Not exactly original but it was better than something about penguins or the latest big budget blockbuster about super heroes or giant robots and explosions. Sonic and Tails wanted to see the superhero movie but Sally didn't like those kinds of movies and they settled on their current pick as it was preferable to the penguin movie as Tails was too old for those types of movies.

The movie started and it was a typical family enjoying a nice vacation at what the dad claimed was 'his secret place', kids being whiny about not having their TV's and computers and mom trying to keep everything together. It was a camping trip and naturally, disaster strikes just as an unexpected winter storm rolls in and they're trapped in the middle of nowhere with only two days of food and their car won't start because it's out of gas; a tired unrealistic plot point that made all three of them groan; they were by no means critics and took movies at face value only but that was ridiculous for them. Sonic even pointed it out which was unlike him.

But aside from that, it did have a little value in it as the storm scene kicked in. The rain and wind hit suddenly, gusts causing their tents to sway and bend inwards and the family realizing they wouldn't be adequate shelter, headed for the safety of the car. Just as they got inside, a loud crack of thunder resonated and a flash of lightning lit the theater. As it did, Tails jumped in his seat and his hands gripped the arm rests as a burst rippled through his chest. Leaning forward and letting out a soft moan that was lost in the sounds of the rain and screams of the family, he quickly got to his feet and left the theater.

"Tails? What's wrong?" Sally asked but he didn't hear her and walked out as quickly as he could. Immediately, she was at her feet and followed him with Sonic right behind her. When she went out the doors, she saw him leaning against the opposite wall. "What happened? Are you ok?" she asked, thinking the sound effect of the thunder might have scared him momentarily as she herself had jumped as well.

"Yeah." he said beginning to calm down. "Just that thunder. Had a burst." he said as a couple people came out of the theatre shaking their heads. "Well that's ten bucks down the drain." a guy said as they headed for the exit. The residual tingle of it still echoed in his chest but it was quickly fading away. "I'll be fine; just need a minute." he said.

Sonic and Sally looked at each other and nodded. "We don't have to go back in there if you don't want to." Sonic said, placing a hand on Tails' shoulder. "But what about the movie? Don't you guys want to finish it?" he asked. "Nah. Not really good anyway." Sonic said. The fox looked back and forth between the two of them and nodded. "Y-yeah. Not even a good movie." he said as they headed for the exit.

"So any idea where you guys want to get breakfast at?" she asked them. "Doesn't really matter to me. Tails?" Sonic asked. "Oh... I'm not really sure. How bout The Fire Apple? I could go for a cider." he said. It was one of the few places around that sold fresh cinnamon apple cider this early in the year and he could really go for one to calm his nerves. "Alright. I could go for some apple pancakes myself." Sally said as they got in the car. "You sure you're alright?" she asked. "Yeah." Tails said with a smile. "I'll be better when I get that cider."


	7. Chapter 7

Before this starts, I want to apologize for not uploading much sooner. On top of being busy, I haven't really been able to get any writing in as I haven't had a lot of access to the laptop as of late. So just be sure that while I might seem to disappear, I'm still working on it in my head. If I do take a long time to upload and want to know how long it will take, shoot me a PM and I'll fill you in. Thanks for reading.

Chapter 7

One year later

Tails: Age 13

"Better finish that cake." Sonic said. "I know." Tails replied taking a forkful. "You just couldn't wait til after lunch could you?"

"Well it's my birthday cake after all. Besides, gonna need the energy in a bit." It had been a pretty nice cake. Nothing too spectacular in terms of decoration. A simple vanilla and chocolate marble cake with whipped cream icing as he preferred a plainly decorated cake over the ones they had left at the time that were for younger children and besides that, it wasn't like cake was a piece of art.

But the passing of his birthday wasn't the only reason this was a special occasion. He had finally gotten up the courage to actually exercise outside of walking. After his health scare, he didn't want to exacerbate his condition, but he felt he had pretty much been idle for a year which bugged him to no end. He had always been very active and to suddenly stop wasn't an easy thing to have to do. But the last few months all his tests had come back normal and his doctors said he was actually improving at a steady rate and had even dropped his appointments from once to twice a week, to once a month and now once every three months. Even the bursts that he had suffered through early on were gone and if he had them, they happened while he was asleep and had to be weaker since he hadn't been jerked out of a sound sleep. He was still required to take the meds and even had one added as a further stabilizing agent, but other than that, it was the first time he felt a sense of normalcy and wanted to try to get regular exercise back into his life.

Finishing the cake, the fox and hedgehog went out back to their sparring area which now had a treadmill and an exercise bike along with the weights. Taking the towel from around his neck, he laid it on the back of a chair. "When is Aunt Sally gonna be back?"

"Don't know. All she told me was she had a couple things to do in town so I figure we have a couple hours at least." Turning on some music, Sonic gravitated to the weights while Tails took the bike. "You sure you're up to this?" he asked and Tails nodded with his usual confidence. "Oh yeah." he said. Setting the bike at level 2, he began pedaling while Sonic picked out a couple 10 pound weights. Tails kept it at a slow pace at first, testing the waters but found after a minute he had no problems and went a little faster, taking it to level 3.

"So how's it feel? Nineteen... twenty..." Sonic asked as he switched from arm curls to holding the weights out to his side. Beginning to pant, Tails turned his head toward Sonic and nodded. "Feels pretty good. Been what... 10 minutes already with no problems. Can't complain." It made Sonic smile to see his brother happy again, getting back to his normal life or as close to normal it would get. "I'm gonna get some water. You want one?" he asked, setting the weights down.

"Getting tired already?" Tails asked with a laugh and nodded. "Way I feel I could probably outrun you right now." Tails laughed as Sonic went to get a couple bottles of water and when he came back, Tails had stopped and hopped off to give his legs a break. "You ok?" Sonic asked handing him a bottle which he cracked open. "Yeah. Just not used to it yet. Legs are killing me." he said taking a sip. "Figure a couple more weeks and I'll get back to normal." Tails said. As he set the bottle on the bike's holder and went to climb on but stopped suddenly, his hand gripping the handlebar.

Sonic's head tilted to the side and he went over to Tails. "You sure you're ok?" he asked and Tails shook his head slowly, his face taking on a tired look. "Not sure but som-" he started to say but the fox was cutoff mid sentence. Tails' entire body tensed as his arms went behind him and his knees locked, his body resembling what someone would look like after being propelled by an explosion in an action movie. His head looking up and his eyes rolling in the back of his head. "Tails?!" Sonic said beginning to panic but Tails couldn't speak as whatever had hit him kept him from doing so. Suddenly, he returned to normal, his body relaxing but somehow staying on his feet.

"I don't know." Tails said, looking around with a look of dread on his face. "I-" Tails jerked again, this time letting out a scream as whatever happened a few seconds ago hit him again. The bike jerked from side to side as his hand clamped down on the bars and managed to keep him steady then just as quickly as it happened, it was over and Tails had the same confused look on his face. "Hold on." he said, zipping back inside and coming back out with a folding chair which he placed behind Tails; even though he was gone for only a few seconds, he saw Tails come out of another one, followed by one more as he unfolded the chair and placed it behind the fox.

Tails managed to sit down, his body shaking as both waited for another to hit but after a few seconds, he felt himself return to normal. Tails and Sonic could only look at each other, the fox scared to move and Sonic scared his brother was going to drop dead. A good minute passed before either spoke and it was Sonic first. "You sure you're ok?" he asked, his voice was shaky and cracking as he was on the verge of tears; a rare show of emotion from the relatively cool demeanor of the hedgehog.

"I... I think I got shocked." he said, his hands and voice shaking. "But I'm alright." he said, giving a momentarily weak smile and nodding. Sonic reached out and grabbed him under the arm to help him to his feet. There was another moment of silence between them before either spoke, this time Tails was first. "M-maybe we should call it a day." Tails said and Sonic nodded, helping Tails to his feet and headed inside; the fox sat down on the couch and Sonic took a seat next to him. Tails let out a shaky breath and turned the TV on so there wouldn't be silence. For the first time since Sonic found him, the fox curled up close to Sonic who wrapped and arm around Tails and held them close.

When Sally came back, they told her what happened and she immediately made an appointment to see Dr. John as it was needed after any suspected shock. After answering a few questions and interrogating his device, it turned out he had just pushed things a bit too far and was otherwise fine. To both Tails' and Sonic's surprise, she took it rather calmly. They both thought she'd freak out and start worrying immediately but they knew it was because she hadn't seen it happen first hand. Sonic knew if it had shaken him as bad as it did, her reaction would've been much worse. But Tails tried to move on as best he could, though he kept close to Sonic and Sally as he didn't want to be alone at the moment. It was an uneasy day for all of them, not knowing if it was going to happen again. Tails for the most part didn't really move around much, worried that if he did it might somehow set the device off again, but thankfully Sonic kept him in good spirits by joking around and keeping the mood happy in general.

However when night rolled around, his anxiety came back and begrudgingly, he went to his room. Changing and crawling in bed, he knew sleep was going to be an impossible thing as the events of the day were replaying in his mind and unlike Sonic's experience, his was far worse. When Sonic left to get the water, he felt something wash over him; a sense of dread like none other he'd experienced before. He stopped pedaling the bike, and he remembered Sonic coming back and asking him something and tried to answer, but the next thing he knew, he felt this sudden heavy pain in his chest. akin to a punch. Oh it hurt so bad. Worse than any pain he had felt before. It was as if someone had kicked him directly in the heart with a pair of steel toed boots from every direction simultaneously inside and out. His vision went completely white, only able to see a brief flash of white static, followed by a flash of black and his skin for a split second felt like it was on fire. His chest and arms felt like they were crawling with needles, like when your leg or arm falls asleep though these were painful. At first, he wasn't sure what had happened as it hit him out of nowhere and he had no time to react but after the first he knew what it was, however it didn't have time to set in his mind as another hit, followed by two more. While the entire event lasted only ten seconds, it seemed like an eternity. He remembered how after he began to regain his senses the look of fear on Sonic's face, a look unlike any other he'd ever saw. The night was spent turning and tossing, trying to clear his mind of what happened but it wouldn't leave. The minutes dragged on and every time he was about to drift off to sleep, his anxiety would kick in and cause a burst to radiate through him which in turn jerked him wide awake again. 3 am he felt the need to go and climbed out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. Walking inside he yawned, his body exhausted and crying for sleep but his anxiety wasn't going to let it come so easy. Every movement felt heavy. His arms and legs felt like he had weights strapped to them while trying to walk through water against the current.

Finishing up, he didn't even bother washing his hands and headed back to try to get some sleep. This time he did actually manage to get some sleep. But it would only last for a few minutes and he'd wake up, turn over and go back to sleep. By the time 8 am rolled around, he had somehow managed to claw out 5 hours of sleep and pulled himself out of bed and into the dining room for breakfast. Sonic and Sally both greeted him but he was still tired and mumbled something to them, sitting down and grabbing a piece of toast. "You ok?" Sonic asked, taking a sip of his coffee. "Yeah, just didn't sleep well."

"I was thinking." Sonic said in a hushed tone while Sally was in the kitchen. "How'd you like to go to the arcade? Just you and me?" The fox immediately perked up a bit. "Y-yeah." he said, his voice lowering as well. He didn't go very often as his lab took up a good bit of time but he did like video games, even having a console somewhere in the depths of his lab awaiting repair. "Okay. We'll go around noon."

This was more than enough to perk him up. He liked Sally but spending time alone with Sonic brought him back to the early days. Before Robotnik, fighting or any of that, he was just a kid that loved hanging around with his brother. Like Sonic said, they left around noon, making an excuse for Sally so they could go without her. Getting in the car, Tails felt any anxiety and exhaustion vanish, replaced with excitement and the fact he could get another shot at the Starscape high score. It was one of those vertical shooters that could have you go through a dollar in less than a minute but thanks to his piloting skills had a knack for the game, being the first to ever get 150,000 points and find the twin ship secret.

Pulling into the parking lot, they headed inside to a flurry of kids, yelling, neon, parents mulling about and sound effects. The kid in the fox flew into full force and he was practically jumping. "Ooh, they got some new ones in!" he exclaimed and it made Sonic smile. "Here."

Tails turned around to see Sonic holding out a ten for him and he took it, offering an exited thank you. But when he looked at it, he saw there wasn't just one bill but two, and it wasn't a ten, but two twenties. The fox looked at him, then quickly hugged him. "Go have fun." Sonic said and Tails headed straight to the change machine. Sonic meanwhile decided to grab a water before trying to find him and bought one, then took a seat at a bench to grab his phone. Off in the distance, he could see Tails shoving quarters into his pockets, wondering how he was gonna be able to walk with so many in his pockets, then dialed.

"We made it."

"How's he doing?"

"Better. Smiling again at least." he stopped to take the cap of the water and take a quick drink. "You should've seen the look on his face when I handed him the money."

"I can imagine. How long you think you'll be there?"

"Well knowing him he's pretty good so it could be a couple hours. But it doesn't matter. He needs something like this."

"Alright. You two have fun. I love you."

"Love you too." Sonic said and hung the phone up. A sudden scream from a nearby kid almost caused him to drop his phone and he fumbled it for a second before catching it and sticking it in his pocket. Looking at the sea of kids, he wondered if he'd be able to find Tails. The arcade machines giving off their flashing lights and loud noises, not to mention the screaming and kids running around without supervision made it a little disorienting but he pushed through the mob to where he last saw the fox, somehow avoiding getting splashed by a soda.

After what seemed like a twenty minute crawl, he spotted the top of his head standing in front of the Starscape machine, hands flying across the controls and full attention on the screen. There was a small mob around him, mesmerized by his every move and trying desperately to memorize everything he did.

"Do you play this every day?" one kid asked without taking his eyes off the screen. Tails shook his head. "No. Just when I get to come here. Bout once a month- jeez!" he exclaimed, a laser bolt narrowly avoiding his ship.

"Nngh..." Tails grunted as he returned fire, blowing the ship with a well placed shot. "How he miss that?" and "Wow." came from a few of the kids while the others were speechless. The fox reached level 18 and from what he could tell, he was within throwing distance of the high score. 'Guess those piloting skills aren't good for flying.' Sonic shifted to his other foot, wondering if he was gonna beat his high score.

Tails kept going, his hands gripping the joystick feverishly. "He's gonna do it!" one kid close to Tails exclaimed suddenly, but it didn't faze him. The look on his face was one of sheer concentration and Sonic had seen it when he was piloting the Tornado. He was in the zone and nothing was going to stop him now. The cabinet began firing of a rapid series of laser bolts, loud whistles and explosions emanating from it.

"GO!" the kid next to him screamed then suddenly, the high score counter rolled over displaying 151,378. There was a series of loud cheers that erupted from the mob and Sonic saw a small smile form on his face. It was unusual to see Tails so cocky but he did do something that no one else had been able to do for months and he deserved to brag. But to everyone's surprise, he walked away from the controls and let his final ships get taken. The surprised gasps could be heard even above the sounds of the arcade, leaving everyone puzzled as to why someone would give up like that. But Tails said nothing as he entered MTP in the initials and it showed him having the top two scores, the closest to either being just over 78.000.

Turning around, he saw Sonic and headed over toward him while the mob proceeded to take over the machine and someone took the job of trying to dethrone him. "You looked like you were having fun. But why'd you give up?"

"Eh, I could've kept going but I just wanted the high score." As they walked, Sonic could hear the jingling of quarters in his pockets and by the sound of it he hadn't made a dent in it. "So what do you want to do now?"

Looking around, Tails scanned the arcade and his eyes locked on a far corner. "Feel like a game of pool?"

Sonic smiled. "Yeah. But I get to break first."

The next few hours flew by. They got in about twenty games, with Tails ending up the winner by 3 games and going through 2 pizzas and sodas; he even got Sonic to play a few of the games which was out of character for him. One in particular he took a shine to was a shooter with a light gun. But when they realized it was getting close to 3 they packed it up and headed home.

"He looks a lot better." Sally said as Tails went back to his lab. "Yeah, you should've seen him. Playing that game, he had a good 30 kids watching him and when he broke the score, they cheered for him."

"It's good to see him like that. I was getting worried about him."

"I know. I can't imagine what that did to him and I don't want to know. He should've have to go through something like this."

"Well best we can do is help him make it through one day at a time." Sally placed a hand on his shoulder. "And keep an eye on him. Anyway, I was thinking about making burgers tonight."

"Ooh, that does sound good; he'll like that. There gonna be chili?"

Sally laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'll make chili."


End file.
